By John Myers Jr./Rasbert Turner, Gleaner ReportersPROFESSOR TREVOR Munroe, who is also a senator and lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies (UWI), yesterday asserted that when private sector businesses break the law and breach the rules by buying smuggled goods, it was contributing to public disorder in the society.
Speaking at the 17th annual Neighbourhood Watch Conference held at the Police Academy in Twickenham Park, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, the senator said "The head of the stream, the private sector as well as the public sector must be cleaned, otherwise the bottom of the stream can hardly be other than dirty... it (was) further breaking down order, not restoring order, when the rich and the wealthy evade paying their taxes and those in authority turn a 'blind eye' or let them get away with tax evasion."
A KEY TOOL IN CRIME
The neighbourhood watch programme is a key tool in crime fighting, according to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) leadership and yesterday's event sought to embrace that concept.
Professor Munroe suggested that the neighbourhood watch programme should broaden its agenda and participate in activities such as community development projects and render assistance with issues such as water lock-offs in an attempt to attract and maintain the interest of citizens.
Furthermore, he said for the programme to achieve its objective of restoring public order in a society plagued by crime and violence, "We must all insist, indeed demand, that all of us stop saying one thing and doing another, that all of us begin to practise what we preach."
However, for the second year in a row, neither the Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, nor Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes, who were both billed as presenters, attended the event.
The conference was told that Dr. Phillips was attending a regional meeting of defence ministers and the commissioner was ill.
INCREASE PARTICIPATION
But other members of the hierarchy of National Security Ministry and the police who attended sought to revive interest and increase participation in neighbourhood watch as part of the assault against the unwavering crime rate.
The meeting was told that about 40 per cent of the almost 600 neighbourhood watch groups across the island are inactive.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Leon Rose, head of the Police's Community Relations Branch said an assessment of the neighbourhood watch programme must be carried out to effect the corrective measures needed in order for it to be an effective crime prevention tool.
