And, again, not surprisingly, the Commissioner of Police welcomes the proposed change -he says he has been "imploring" for the change in the law and is actually dreaming of a year long SOE.
Dr Richard Rosado, Commissioner of Police
"Hence the reason that I have been lobbying with the National Security Council. I have been imploring, I have been begging for at the minimum of 6 months to a year, whether it is called a State of Emergency, whether it is called a Gang Intervention Period, whether it is called a safe zone, the semantic does not matter to me but we must be more, we must implement a strategy that encapsulates, specialised intervention in order for us to dismantle the criminal network to rehabilitate offenders and to protect vulnerable communities. And from a policy directive the change does support an evidence based approach - which encapsulates prevention, community engagement and multi agency support rather than an enforcement driven approach."
"The State of Emergency, the way how the drafter drafted the constitution it does assist us in terms of when the violence in the streets has reached a critical situation. But it does not encapsulate the specialised intervention that we are seeing and I am begging I am lobbying imploring the national security council for us to have a 6 months to a year intervention period whether we call it whatever name we call it the semantic does not matter to me. But we must ensure that we have a specialised intervention period to ensure that we dismantle the criminal network, rehabilitate offenders and protect vulnerable communities so it does not mean it will be locked up for 12, a year or six months. It is an entire specialised intervention period and it involves many many things."
