Montague ranks ‘the illegal gun’ as Jamaica’s number one crime problem
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, in an address this morning to delegates at the two-day international conference on crime, said Jamaica’s main crime problem is “the illegal gun”.
He explained that this is against the backdrop that Jamaica does not produce guns and ammunition, but “the gun” is present at 80 per cent of crime scenes.
“Let there be no mistake, we have identified that the illegal gun is our major problem, and we are focused in our resolve to reduce the number of illegal guns on our streets,” he assured delegates.
“We may have issues with our police, weaknesses in our laws, limited resources, but we are clear what our number one problem is…it is the illegal gun,” Montague told delegates, which include US Ambassador to Jamaica Luis Moreno, former New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and former Head Chief General of the Colombian National Police, General Ross Jose Serrano.
“We are not where we want to be, and that is why we continue to invest heavily in the intelligence network, our Forensic Institute, because data collection, storage and analysis form the foundation of our thrust against illegal guns”, he said.
In his address, he sought the cooperation and assistance from regional partners “in this targeted against illegal guns”, as “Jamaica is committed in assisting other regional nations with their priorities, whether it be drugs, human trafficking, or guns like us.”
He added that while Jamaica’s number one priority is to reduce illegal guns and ammunition, tackling corruption within the security forces, and eliminating lottery scamming are also priorities.
The Multilateral Summit on Crime is themed: ‘Combating Crime in an Interconnected World’.
The key outcomes for the summit will include action plans resulting from the sharing of intelligence to boost cyber security, combat gang activity and fight the trafficking of drugs and firearms, according to the security minister.