Jamaica Government Announces New Anti-Crime Agency

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government Monday announced the establishment of a new anti-crime agency that it said formed part of the strategy to create a national law enforcement agency.

National Security Minister Dr. Peter Bunting told a news conference that the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency follows the merger of the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA).

He said the new entity would retain the acronym, MOCA, and will be headed by Colonel D.T. Edwards of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). Edwards had been seconded for a transitional period to oversee and coordinate the merger.

According to Bunting, there are plans to create a national law enforcement agency which will be the subject of a future Cabinet submission.

“The concept for it came out of the National Security policy which was really a rigourous strategic analysis that showed a gap in our law enforcement machinery. So it was really responding to that,” he said.

Bunting said MOCA would have the capacity to conduct independent investigations and report to the National Security Council, through him on matters of policy and performance.
It will also continue to work with other government entities, including  the Financial Investigations Division.

Bunting said the decision to merge both crime-fighting agencies stems from the overlap in the mandates in tackling serious organised crime and stamping out corruption.

“And we will look at other models to see what would be the appropriate legislation to pass to basically provide for some continuity.

“The problem with a task force is leadership changes, administrations change, things are de-emphaised and you often lose some expertise built up over the years. So we want to look at some permanence in terms of setting this up.”

The National Security Minister said the merger would result in “greater reach and increased capacity to carry out investigations on people of interest, including the police and those in public office”.

He also said additional laws and procedures being enacted will assist in the prosecution of criminals arrested and charged by MOCA.

Meanwhile, a Steering Committee, chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, retired Major General Stewart Saunders, will have oversight responsibility for the policy implementation of MOCA.

The committee will also include senior officers of the JCF and JDF.