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Communities to Help in the Fight against Crime
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Communities to Help in the Fight against Crime |
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Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - The soon to be established National Crime Commission plans to develop social contracts with local communities so as to reduce the rate of crime in the country. So says the Professor of Criminology at the University of the West Indies and Consultant to the CARICOM Task Force on Crime, Professor Ramesh Deosaran. The proposed National Crime Commission aims to empower communities to work with the police to help deal with all aspects of crime in the country. The development of social contracts is a move in that direction, says Deosaran, such that over time, specific crime rates will be tackled through the National Crime Commission working jointly with the police and communities. Deosaran adds that the Commission will also seek to ensure that there is more accountability within the Police Force, in the hope that it will lead to increased public confidence. Professor Deosaran explains that mechanisms will be put in place to measure, over a period of time, the performance of the police and how that reflects on the civic obligations of the different communities. “We can no longer do business as usual as the criminals don’t do business as usual. Therefore the responses from government, police and citizens must be upgraded and have performances that are measurable because we want a system of accountability in the crime prevention process,” he noted. A number of proposals will also be put forward to CARICOM Heads of Governments that will result in a Caribbean Policing model. This model will serve as the basis for policing in the region. One of those proposals is for the establishment of a National Crime Commission in each island. The National Crime Commission in St. Lucia, if successful, will serve as a model for Crime Commissions all over the Caribbean. |
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