4th International Conference on Crime and Justice in the Caribbean

Some of the major preliminary programs currently underway in Trinidad and Tobago and in other Caribbean states were explored in detail, such as UNICEF’s Xchange Project which aims to create safe and protective environments, free from violence, for children in the home, school, and in the community where they can live and grow to reach their full potential.

Laura Capobianco, Research Analyst, ICPC participated in the following panel: Policing, Private Security, Police Reform and Small Arms Proliferation, outlining some of the key issues and opportunities brought about by the proliferation and diversification of private security, including a focus on additional roles for private sector involvement in crime prevention (for a PDF copy of her presentation, click here).

Throughout the panel discussions on prevention, the importance of multi level and cross cutting partnerships in successfully combating and preventing crime was underscored, as was the importance of well targeted programs to meet the diverse needs of the community (eg. elderly, youth at risk, young girls and women). Participants also expressed the need to build capacity among local practitioners in crime prevention to help enhance safety, particularly in less resourced areas. Finally, the challenges of implementing community policing models in the Caribbean region, similar to other regions of the world were addressed such as an organizational culture resistant to change, and issues related to power-sharing and police-community relations.

The Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice (UWI) is presently compiling a list of some of the major recommendations and research issues put forth by the panelists (to be released at a future date).  For more information, visit the following: www.sta.uwi.edu/conferences/criminology/.

Additional communications on the event.