“STRAIGHTFORWARD” is how Prime Minister Andrew Holness described the Jamaican Government in asking the United States for assistance in interdicting and prosecuting criminal elements pulling strings in Jamaica from the US.

Holness revealed that the Government is aware of these criminal actors and has gathered intelligence which will be shared with the US.

“I think after this meeting our existing partnership will be quite robust,” Holness said last Thursday during the online programme, Let’s Connect with Ambassador Marks.

“One of the areas that we’re pursuing is greater partnership with the United States; and today we had an excellent meeting that was hosted by the Department of Justice and had various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and other entities, and we were able to discuss our current slate of programmes that we have with them,” he continued.

Holness arrived in the US capital, Washington DC, on Tuesday for a five-day visit. While there he was scheduled to meet with State Department officials to discuss enhanced security cooperation with the US.

He was expected to focus on areas of increased cooperation in light of the fact that a large number of US-based Jamaican-American “dons” have been influencing the rising crime levels and murder rates in Jamaica.

Thursday night, Holness said they were able to identify gaps and further opportunities for partnership.

“I think we have gained some ground here in being able to track the people, in being able to interdict and prosecute them — and that will have a massive impact on safety and security in Jamaica. They [crime players] live in the US and they either solicit, direct, or finance crimes — particularly homicides — in Jamaica, and we are seeking the assistance of the United States,” he said.

Holness also said that the trafficking of weapons has a destructive impact on the societies of small island developing states like Jamaica.

“We were very pleased to hear that the United States has passed legislation to more effectively deal with the illegal trafficking of firearms and weapons. We have asked that Jamaica be made a priority in terms of identifying, interdicting and prosecuting persons who may be using the United Sates as cover to export weapons back to Jamaica,” he stated.

“I find it to be very repulsive the thought that someone who would have left Jamaica, got the opportunity to migrate, to see a better life, would seek to send weapons of destruction back to their home country to make life harder for the very people there. And so, we are moving with great alacrity, great determination to ensure that we crush those people that are here and doing that.”

Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson, also speaking during Let’s Connect with Ambassador Marks, said policing Jamaica is always a “tough thing”.

The good thing is that we are doing a lot to change the JCF. The force is developing in ways that perhaps people are not aware of, and we are always trying to get our communications a bit better so that we can make people aware,” Anderson said.

The commissioner noted that as a national police force it is “a little different” from what happens in the US.

“There are many law enforcement agencies in the US, and the JCF pretty much does what all of them do, in Jamaica. So, we slice up our numbers into a part that deals with narcotics, a part that deals with psycho forensics, a part that deals with technology, another part that deals with investigations, and another part that deals canine, marine — all of that is still JCF.

“So, the numbers are relatively large. In the US we’ll probably be on the second tier of police forces in terms of our size, but for a country that does all of those security matters on our own security conditions, we had to develop that so now we graduate more police officers than we ever had in our history.”

According to the JCF, Jamaica now trains 1,200 police personnel a year. Prior to that upgrade, 400 police personnel were graduating a year.

Anderson said in late January, or early February 2023, the JCF will be having an expo at the National Stadium so that people can interface and see where things are with respect to the police force.

He underscored the force’s incorporation of technology in recent times, and pointed to some 35 technological projects that were being run concurrently — including digitising reports, and a plan to have at least the headquarters of all divisions online by the end of the fiscal year.