PRIME Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda was spot on in his analysis of the threat posed to the Caribbean by organised crime.
"We are living in extraordinary times for our region," he told the 26th annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police held in his country this week.
"Coupled with devising strategies to counteract the effects of the global economic meltdown, we are faced with criminals becoming more organised and the possibilities of additional security challenges from the recent death of Osama bin Laden. There is major work to be done and little time to do so," he said.
Prime Minister Spencer also correctly pointed out that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States — when hijackers used commercial planes to bomb the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people — are potent reminders that we are not alone in the fight against crime, "nor are we immune to the fallout from criminal activities perpetrated on our neighbours in the north or in Europe and even further afield".
We remember well, as Mr Spencer highlighted, the fact that the tourism-dependent economies of the Caribbean felt the effects of 9/11, as many Americans in particular, Canadians and Britons scrapped travel plans out of fear for their safety.
And who could blame them? After all, no one was sure whether another brainwashed lunatic would hijack other aircraft with the intention of satisfying the bloodlust of their cowardly masters.
With the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US forces just over a week ago, the Caribbean has grown more concerned with security as the region could be seen as a soft target for those incensed at bin Laden's slaying. In fact, the US authorities were reported on Wednesday as saying that instructions found in bin Laden's lair were for his disciples to hit soft targets in order to kill more Americans in a single week to drive them from the Arab world.
Prime Minister Spencer's encouragement therefore for broad collaboration with the region and with our international partners is sound advice which, we hope, he and his Caricom heads of government colleagues will continue to act on in the interest of the Caribbean people.
Mr Spencer also expressed the hope that the police commissioners' conference would serve as the avenue through which "fundamental changes" are made in the strategies used to counter and stay ahead of criminals.
For, as he acknowledged, these criminals have demonstrated that they are prepared to use the same technologies designed to empower law enforcement officers in order to "pose untold economic and security challenges to countries within our region".
The stakes for the region and its people are too high to ignore Mr Spencer's advice that we all need to source and acquire "additional equipment for the building and strengthening of regional databases designed to improve information and intelligence-sharing capabilities".
Our guess is that this investment will not be cheap. And given the demands for vital social services, including health and education, the region's governments will find it difficult to make the necessary allocations to security.
However, it may prove extremely expensive in the long run if we procrastinate, something which are all very good at in these Caribbean islands.
Source: www.jamaicaobserver.com
"We are living in extraordinary times for our region," he told the 26th annual conference of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police held in his country this week.
"Coupled with devising strategies to counteract the effects of the global economic meltdown, we are faced with criminals becoming more organised and the possibilities of additional security challenges from the recent death of Osama bin Laden. There is major work to be done and little time to do so," he said.
Prime Minister Spencer also correctly pointed out that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States — when hijackers used commercial planes to bomb the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people — are potent reminders that we are not alone in the fight against crime, "nor are we immune to the fallout from criminal activities perpetrated on our neighbours in the north or in Europe and even further afield".
We remember well, as Mr Spencer highlighted, the fact that the tourism-dependent economies of the Caribbean felt the effects of 9/11, as many Americans in particular, Canadians and Britons scrapped travel plans out of fear for their safety.
And who could blame them? After all, no one was sure whether another brainwashed lunatic would hijack other aircraft with the intention of satisfying the bloodlust of their cowardly masters.
With the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by US forces just over a week ago, the Caribbean has grown more concerned with security as the region could be seen as a soft target for those incensed at bin Laden's slaying. In fact, the US authorities were reported on Wednesday as saying that instructions found in bin Laden's lair were for his disciples to hit soft targets in order to kill more Americans in a single week to drive them from the Arab world.
Prime Minister Spencer's encouragement therefore for broad collaboration with the region and with our international partners is sound advice which, we hope, he and his Caricom heads of government colleagues will continue to act on in the interest of the Caribbean people.
Mr Spencer also expressed the hope that the police commissioners' conference would serve as the avenue through which "fundamental changes" are made in the strategies used to counter and stay ahead of criminals.
For, as he acknowledged, these criminals have demonstrated that they are prepared to use the same technologies designed to empower law enforcement officers in order to "pose untold economic and security challenges to countries within our region".
The stakes for the region and its people are too high to ignore Mr Spencer's advice that we all need to source and acquire "additional equipment for the building and strengthening of regional databases designed to improve information and intelligence-sharing capabilities".
Our guess is that this investment will not be cheap. And given the demands for vital social services, including health and education, the region's governments will find it difficult to make the necessary allocations to security.
However, it may prove extremely expensive in the long run if we procrastinate, something which are all very good at in these Caribbean islands.
Source: www.jamaicaobserver.com
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