PM: More resources for security forces

PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson says the Cabinet is to discuss today what further resources the security forces need to quell the violence in West Kingston.

According to the Jamaica Information Service, the public relations arm of the government, Mr. Patterson said the scale and intensity of the violence in western Kingston over the last two days represented a "sharp and profound threat to peace, tranquillity and order in the lives of the people in the entire Jamaican society".

In a statement, he said the security forces would not yield in the face of attacks and criminal assaults.

"Tomorrow (Monday), the Cabinet will consider what further resources will need to be provided so that the security forces have the unquestioned capacity to do all that is necessary", he said.

Prime Minister Patterson will also make a broadcast to the nation today after meeting with Cabinet.

"There must be no inch of Jamaican territory which can remain outside of the ambit of control by the security forces. The rule of law and public order must prevail throughout our land", he declared.

"Let me state clearly that criminal violence, whatever its source, whether it is rooted in drugs, the struggle for turf, or whether there is any political motive from any misguided source, will not be tolerated by the Government which I lead".

Mr. Patterson, who returned to Jamaica on Saturday from the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Nassau, The Bahamas, said since his return he had been meeting with the National Security and Justice Minister and the heads of the security forces to receive a full briefing on the upsurge of violence in West Kingston, and to ensure that it was quelled "decisively and immediately".

He expressed sympathy to the families and members of the security forces who had lost loved ones and colleagues, adding that Jamaica would "forever be in their debt".

Also, Mr. Patterson extended "solidarity with the law-abiding citizens and communities whose lawful activities have been interrupted, and to any innocent civilian who have suffered from this outbreak of senseless criminal violence".

Noting that the security forces had been stretched, Mr. Patterson said he had summoned the Defence Board on Saturday evening, which sanctioned the call up on the National Reserves.

He said he had instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to brief the Diplomatic Corps and "our representatives overseas, in order to protect Jamaica's good name".

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