Winston Lawson

Byron McDaniel, Feature Writer

Walderston, Manchester:

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce does not support recent calls from Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) president Mark Myers and Deputy Commissioner of Police Charles Scarlett that the fingerprint database at the Electoral Office of Jamaica be made available to the police in the fightagainst crime.

The Manchester chamber in a 'position paper' made available at its monthly meeting at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville on Thursday, March 1, states that the position taken rests squarely within the values and standards of the Manchester chamber and this principle will not be compromised. Speaking to The Gleaner, Winston Lawson, president of the Manchester chamber said his organisation agreed to disagree with the leadership of the JCC.

The position paper said:

a) The Jamaica populace provided fingerprints and facilitated the creation of a fingerprint database on the clear and unambiguous agreement with the Government of Jamaica that they be used for no other purpose but the purpose of the populace exercising its right to vote;

b) The proposal seeks to facilitate the fingerprint database being used for a purpose outside of that which was expressly agreed;

c) The level of crime and violence in Jamaica is grossly unacceptable;

d) The resources of the Jamaican police to fight crime are grossly inadequate; and,

e) The causes of the high level of crime in Jamaica go further than the police inability to fight it; values and attitudes, social and economic are other factors.

The chamber recognises some of the possible benefits of the proposal being to:

1) Enhance the capacity of police investigation into criminal matters in an effort to bring guilty parties to justice;

2) Deter persons from engaging in criminal activities, given higher likelihood of being brought to justice;

3) Negate the need and the expense to create a new database under a new fingerprint act.

The chamber recognises two of the possible drawbacks as:1) Severe deterioration of trust and confidence in the Government of Jamaica in light of breach in agreement on a very sensitive matter.

2) Danger precedence would be endorsed, possibly opening a floodgate of future similar breaches by any Government of Jamaica.

Having considered all the foregoing, the Manchester Chamber of Commerce has taken the position that any use of the fingerprint database outside of the sole purpose previously agreed to, must be agreed/approved by the respective Jamaican populace who provided their fingerprints. Any action taken outside of such, constitutes for the chamber and an unprincipled move which it cannot endorse.