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We will make public security and crime control a national
priority by committing a minimum percentage of the National
Budget as an investment in improved security and crime
reduction over the next five years.
We will move with urgency to make our criminal justice
system more efficient and more effective in supporting the
efforts of law enforcement. This will be done by increasing
the number of court houses, Judges and Prosecutors, as
well as abolishing circuit courts and replacing them with
permanent high courts.
Legal Aid will be provided to citizens who wish to place civil
matters before the courts but cannot afford lawyers. Given
our financial constraints as a country, we will co-locate more
Magistrate Courts with larger Police Stations in sub-urban
and rural districts.
We will declare “no crime zones” in critical public spaces in
which a zero-tolerance approach will be taken to even the
smallest infraction of the law.
Our current approach to treating offenders is ineffective and
requires urgent reform. We will take steps within our first
100 days in office to enact or amend laws making provisions
for:
We will make Plea-Bargaining a more effective tool in our law
enforcement and criminal justice efforts. Within our first 100
days in office we will the amend the Plea-Bargaining Law to
increase the incentives for criminals to testify against their
accomplices especially those involved in gang activities.
The Jamaica Labour Party will reform our correctional
system to ensure that our prisons serve the purpose of
reforming offenders and preventing violent criminals from
continuing to commit crimes. Our reform of the correctional
services will achieve better classification and treatment of
offenders on the basis of risk and need.
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10 Steps to Safety and Security
Ensuring safe communities means much more than policing
SAFETY AND SECURITY
The next Jamaica Labour Party Government will
take these 10 steps and more to ensure the safety
and protection of the people of Jamaica:
Increased use of non-custodial sentences with
strict supervision conditions including electronic
monitoring for non-violent offenders.
Mandatory minimum prison sentences for violent
criminals and certain dangerous categories of
crime.
We will establish a minimum of 15 joint Police/
Military posts in high ground areas which criminals
regularly occupy or retreat to after unleashing
violence on communities.
We will make it a policy of the Government that
every housing development of 400 units or more
must have a post to accommodate community
Police officers, who will be dedicated to keeping
citizens in these communities safe and confident.
We will set aside a share of 2% of the road
maintenance budget to build out CCTV systems.
a)
b)
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b)
c)
We will use electronic monitoring to supervise those on
parole and early release as well as violent criminals on bail.
Community-Based Policing is extremely important to
effective crime fighting. We will, within our first year in
office, construct or deploy 30 small Police Posts in areas
identified as crime hot spots to place the police closer
to where they are most needed. This will go a far way in
keeping communities safe, building citizen confidence,
deterring criminal activities and creating the environment
for the orderly development and prosperity of communities.
In addition: