CMOC drafts new consensus on crime

By Halshane Burke    

 

The Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee (CMOC) has devised a new consensus around crime.

 

The last consensus was drafted in 2013.

 

CMOC Chairman Lloyd Distant said representatives of civil society and the private sector have agreed on all elements of the plan.

 

He said the initial consensus saw about 70 per cent of the deliverables being achieved - with the new agreement set to address the shortfall in the near term. 

 

"There are things that probably need to change or new targets that need to be set, and what we want to do is ensure that we don't take our eye off the ball. We want to continue to drive those going forward. So those would have included in the new consensus as well. 

 

"There's a lot of conversation around assessing milestones but not assessing outcome and impact. And in the new consensus, what we have done is actually identified things that were completed in the first consensus, but what's the next phase? Example, the Public Bodies and Management Accountability Act. The initial consensus spoke to promulgating the regulations. So those have been done. [But] we can't say how many of the government boards that are covered in those new regulations have actually been transitioned to what existed before." 

 

Mr. Distant said stakeholder engagement has been broadened to incorporate more viewpoints.

 

"Several other service organisations...are actually the becoming part of this new consensus. But what really needs to happen is we need to get on a campaign where the rest of Jamaica knows what is there and understand the role and the part they can play in holding the government accountable, holding all the stakeholders accountable to deliverables, but also the part that they can play in actually helping all of Jamaica, helping themselves to achieve a sustainable reduction in crime and violence in Jamaica," he noted.    

 

The CMOC chairman was speaking Wednesday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines.