Dillon: Let everyone act on crime

NATIONAL Security Minister Edmund Dillon is urging each person and each community to ask themselves, “What can I do to prevent crime?”, for the success of his ministry’s National Crime Prevention Programme (NCCP.)

“The key word is prevention,” he told Newsday yesterday.

“While law enforcement, and so on, deals with the ‘hard end’, reacting, and treating with the criminals and so on, let us see as a community how we can prevent elements from engaging in a mindset of crime.

“Crime prevention is about a pattern of behaviour, an attitude and a mindset.”

Dillon said an allocation for the National Crime Prevention programme will be given in the next budget, but so far the scheme uses existing state facilities plus efforts of many volunteers such as school guidance counsellors.

“We will have a monitoring and evaluation department to see what are the issues and to get feedback.”

The NCPP is being co-ordinated from a secretariat in the ministry.

“We are engaging and educating the communities in preventative responsibility and philosophy. The question of crime affects everyone, so let us all come on board. How can we create a physical space?”

Newsday asked about poor family-life as a cause of crime.

“We intend to touch every aspect of the community. That is why we have people from the Ministry of Social Development and Family Affairs; and Community Development, Culture and the Arts.”

Guidance counsellors from the school system are volunteering, he said. “Psychologists are coming on board to talk to the troubled youth and some of the parents about parenting. “At the end of the day if we want to prevent crime we have to start from the building block of the family.