Thread by @MarkJGolding

The Jamaican Dream will never permit the Government to use states of emergency as a continuous tool of policing. A state of emergency is the last resort under the Constitution. #BudgetDebate2022

Its purpose is to protect the country from an existential threat to our constitutional order and our democratic way of life. #BudgetDebate2022

A state of emergency allows regulations which remove basic rights, in particular the right of access to the court if you are locked up by the security forces and detained.
#BudgetDebate2022

The removal of those rights allows the security forces to arrest and detain anyone they choose. It casts a broad net, into which the innocent, and those lacking connections and influence, can find themselves incarcerated for extended periods. #BudgetDebate2022

They have no access to a court for the protection of their rights.
Too many innocent young men have had their lives interrupted and blighted after they were swept up in a state of emergency. That is unjust.
#BudgetDebate2022

Jamaica’s terrible and chronic problem of violent crime requires an effective and proportionate response. It cannot be achieved through oppressive laws that trample on the rights of the people.
#BudgetDebate2022

As we have said before, we believe that only a balanced approach, using both crime control as well as crime prevention measures, can achieve a long-term reduction in violent crime.
A balanced approach is essential to social harmony & sustained crime reduction. #BudgetDebate2022

From the enforcement perspective, what is required is spear-fishing that targets dangerous criminals - the violence producers; not casting a wide net, that entangles both the good and the bad.
#BudgetDebate2022

The Government must fashion legislation that allows known violence producers to be taken off the streets, so that an effective case for prosecution can be brought against them. #BudgetDebate2022

The procedure should have proper checks and balances to ensure that reliable intelligence, not mere suss and gossip, is the basis for detention.
#BudgetDebate2022

If that basic standard of justice is met, I will support legislation that enables us to target and effectively deal with the vicious purveyors of criminal violence, who are taking so many lives and destroying so many families. #BudgetDebate2022

They are sapping the national will and our collective hope for the future. They are killing the Jamaican Dream.
We also believe that community intervention and targeted resources are essential to achieve sustained violence reduction.
#BudgetDebate2022

We have seen too often how reprisals kill and maim the innocent, including our precious children. The Peace Management Initiative, which has been successful in the past, has been allowed to wither on the vine. #BudgetDebate2022

It should be revamped, revitalized and made to work in all the hot spots across the country.We will equip teams of violence interrupters to intervene in conflicts on the ground. #BudgetDebate2022

That is the way to avert escalation of an incident into a spiral of reprisals. We will train and empower 500 violence interrupters across Jamaica, to help to maintain calm and good order in these communities.
We did it before and we will do it again!
#BudgetDebate2022

In our last term in office, programmes like Unite for Change and the Peace Management Initiative helped to bring the murder rate down. We took it down to over 20% lower than it has been during the past six years of this Government.
#BudgetDebate2022

It is curious that since the 25th January, when I called out the Minister and put the Commissioner on probation, we have seen the lowest rates of murder in six years.
What has changed?
#BudgetDebate2022

The existing tools of law enforcement, including the Zones of Special Operation in areas under siege from violent criminals, are being made to work, as we always said they could.
#BudgetDebate2022

Indeed, since I made that call, the approach has been far more effective than repeated periods of states of emergency from 2017 through 2021. I sincerely hope that this trend is sustained.
#BudgetDebate2022