If the Jamaican society is to extricate itself from its four decades of economic malaise, the 40-year trend of increasing violent crime and insecurity must be reversed. However, this is only possible with proper and adequate diagnoses of causes and the formulation of appropriate policies and solutions. Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean must adopt (and adapt) relevant crime response policies and approaches to fight all types of crimes and violence, and the authors argue that this is only achievable through coordinated strategies and evidence-based policymaking underpinned by an integrated program of cutting-edge research. By identifying the best program assessment indicators and adjusting policies that are inadequate, a country like Jamaica can turn the tide against the criminal organizations that are holding the formal economy and legal institutions hostage. Through careful analysis of other regional programs and perspectives, it is possible to find workable models for Jamaica to follow.
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The national security implications of pandemic influenza have immeasurable social costs, but also important are the quantifiable economic costs. We estimated the possible macroeconomic effects of the next influenza pandemic on the Jamaican economy and analyzed the economic impact of vaccine-based interventions. The estimated economic impact would be approximately JA$2.6B, excluding disruptions to commerce and society. Loss in man hours is estimated over a two (2) week work period at approximately 15M hours using an estimated average attack rate of 17% across the leading economic sectors. With vaccination cost per patient ranging between US$18 to as high as US$59, the overall cost of vaccinating members of the estimated labour force who might be exposed to an attack is as high as JA$917M. We therefore project a net savings to the society if persons within the labour force are vaccinated. Critical among the labour force are public and corporate security. Public safety and public order are paramount during an outbreak of pandemic influenza.
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The paper analyses the roles and functions of the military and civilian police and comes to the conclusion that either the disbanding or amalgamation of the military in small developing countries would denude the state's capability of providing a stable National Security environment. It suggests that transformation of the military to be more relevant to the developing economies is more appropriate. The link of the hemispheric threats of the nation states of the Caribbean, to National Security and the differing roles of the police and military services is investigated and it is argued that the concomitancy of appropriate training to functions is critical and herein lies one of the major impediments to amalgamation. The paper argues that discipline is the foundation of military combat readiness and combat effectiveness and is more important in today's complex security environment of asymmetric threats from non-state actors where the "release aggression, restrain excess" paradox is most relevant.
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