Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Prime Minister Bruce Golding (left) and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller (centre) field questions from members of the media yesterday following bipartisan talks between Government and the Opposition at Vale Royal in St Andrew. Industry minister Karl Samuda (second left), Opposition Member of Parliament Roger Clarke (back), national security minister, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, and opposition security spokesman, Dr Peter Phillips (right), are also pictured. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

JAMAICANS have again been urged to join the fight against crime with Prime Minister Bruce Golding saying yesterday that citizens would have to decide their own future.

"The society is going to have to make some choices, whether or not it is going to be prepared to be inconvenienced in order to strengthen our capacity to restore order to communities that have been taken over by criminal elements," Golding told journalists after top-rank leaders in the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) held bipartisan talks at Vale Royal, St Andrew.

"We are going to have to explain, we are going to have to be sensitive, we are going to have to take the public into our confidence, but the country should be prepared to appreciate the fact that we are facing extraordinary challenges and, therefore, they are going to require an appropriate response," Golding said.

Police presence

More than 700 persons have been murdered since January, with the month of May accounting for nearly 200. In response, Government has increased the presence of the police and the military in some communities. Golding said the increased presence of the security forces would continue, and added that providing the police with the tools to fight crime, as well as creating more legislation to aid crime fighting, were some of the things agreed on by both parties.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said the PNP stood ready to help Government in the fight against crime, and urged all Jamaicans to assist in the battle.

"We are going to have to look at how we operate in our communities, and there are times when perhaps we might be called on as citizens of this country to do some extraordinary things to ensure that we can tame this monster of crime and violence," Simpson Miller said.

In a warning to criminals, the Opposition leader said, "Cease and desist before it is too late."

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com