Holness to compel unattached youth to provide national service

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that the Government is moving toward a compulsory national service programme, which he said will be rolled out through the Jamaica National Service Corps (JNSC) in short order.

Holness made the announcement at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Little London Police Station in Westmoreland on Thursday.

"It is clear to me that a part of the solution to our problem is that we must be out there literally recruiting the young men before the gangs recruit them," Holness said.

The JNSC is a new category of military service which targets the nation's unattached youth who are given basic military training. It is the standard mode of enlistment for persons joining the Jamaica Defence Force to serve as full-time soldiers. Holness noted that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the extent to which youngsters were recruited into the JNSC, but said it will be expanded to "genuinely and truly" create "a national compulsory service programme because we will not be able to make quick and radical change in the trajectory of youth-generated crime -- crime generated by young people -- without getting our youngsters into a proper programme of socialisation".

Meanwhile, he also announced that a special piece of legislation, the Enhanced Security Measures Act (ESMA), will be brought before Parliament shortly. He said that special emergency powers are required as part of the crime-fighting strategy and plan. He emphasised that, generally, the perpetrators and victims of crime are young men between the ages of 16 and 24. He said that the ESMA will place specific focus on this area.

"I do hope that a wise position will prevail on the use of the emergency powers. It is an important tool to give communities at war a sense of peace," Holness said.

The Government has been heavily reliant on the use of enhanced security measures, such as the declaration of zones of special operations (ZOSOs) and states of emergency (SOEs), in the anti-crime fight.

Holness said that there is compelling evidence that the SOEs worked.

"When we used the emergency powers in the parish of Westmoreland, it worked. We cannot deny the history of the use of emergency powers. If any Government should fear the use of emergency powers, it should be this Government. And when we decided to use it as a strategy, we didn't just immediately implement," said Holness.

Westmoreland, as of April 5, had recorded 41 murders, which represents a 127 per cent increase when compared with the corresponding period last year. St James has recorded 70, the most in any police division.