Chang rebuffs call for police to negotiate with criminals

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang this morning shot down a suggestion for the police to negotiate with criminals to get the country's crime problem under control.

“I don't negotiate with criminals. I cannot negotiate with killers,” Chang declared.

“Killers, we look for evidence, apprehend them and lock them up,” he told The Gleaner following a tour of the police's Criminal Records Office in downtown Kingston.

Homer Davis, a minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, at the weekend, suggested that the police meet with gangsters in a bid to address the crime problem, particularly murders.

Davis' comment came against the backdrop of a 33 per cent increase in homicides in St James, where he and Chang are Members of Parliament.

Up to May, nationally, there was a 6.3 per cent increase in murders, with robberies up by 2.4 per cent, and a 6.9 per cent increase in break-ins.

Shootings were down 8.5 per cent and rapes were down 15.7 per cent.

Quizzed on the implications of such a suggestion from Davis, Chang said that it was his right to speak.

“He does have a right to his opinion,” said Chang.

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