CAMPBELL

Dr Derrick Campbell, chairman of the National Independent Advisory Group on the Criminal Use of Firearms in the United Kingdom, is calling on communities within Jamaica to stand up against the scourge of crime which is sweeping the island.

More than 1,500 Jamaicans were killed in 2007 and, already in 2008, over 150 persons have lost their lives. Campbell said on Monday that he believes the time is right for a national movement against crime.

"You have got to change people's mindset. It's a programme of hearts and minds. You have got to have proper high-profile campaigns, you have got to start in the school, some of these things you have to breed it out in a number of years," he told The Gleaner during a courtesy call at the newspaper's North Street, central Kingston offices.

Changing hearts

"It's about changing people's hearts and minds and instilling confidence," he said. "You have got to create an environment where the community says it is unacceptable and, when the community says this is unacceptable, you will be surprised to see how powerful people are."

Campbell, who advises the Home Secretary and other high-level decision makers in the UK on gun crime and drugs, said Jamaican authorities need to create this mindset with both a national campaign and campaigns focused on the criminal hot spots.

"You have to encourage people through marketing, through campaigning, through going into schools, going into communities and have a dedicated move and start the energy that is going to ripple through the whole of the country, that 'hey, gun crime is not acceptable'," he said.

Campbell, whose parents hail from Jamaica, also pinpointed job creation, coupled with a robust trade development process, that would train Jamaicans to access the jobs. All this can be done, he said, with effective government willpower.