PHILLIPS

Former national security minister, Dr Peter Phillips, has all but called for the broadening of the wiretapping laws.

Phillips told The Gleaner yesterday Jamaica must keep pace with technological advancements across the globe.

"Technology is facing us head-on and is coming at a very rapid rate," Phillips said, when asked whether he would support strengthening of the wiretapping laws.

"The law enforcement and the legislations governing the operations have to keep pace with the technological changes and be relevant in a new technological environment."

Efforts to contact Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller for her views were unsuccessful.

Phillips' comments came only a day after Prime Minister Bruce Golding presented his administration's new anti-crime plan in Parliament. The proposed crime- fighting measures have since been met with mixed reactions from political analysts, legal practitioners and human-rights activists.

Controversial issue

The controversial wiretapping issue first came to national attention in 1999, when there were allegations of illegal wiretapping, involving Colombian drug traffickers and several senior officers of the Jamaica Consta-bulary Force.

It was reported that the officers were paid $2 million to offer safe passage for the traffickers to use Jamaican waters.

It was also alleged that the telephone lines of other senior police officers, Cabinet ministers and a number of inner-city dons, had been wiretapped.

In 2005, the Canadian government strengthened its wiretapping laws to increase the technological capacity of its authorities to fight organised crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism.

In 2006, Parliament passed The Interception of Communi-cations (Amendment) Bill, allowing the police to modify warrants and effectively wiretap Jamaican citizens for up to seven days without an order from the Supreme Court.