By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

PASTOR Carlos Reid, a consultant to the Ministry of National Security, said officials have been doing consistent mediation between rival gangs amid heightened violence in the country.

The murder count currently stands at 108, with the recent death of a 22-year-old woman who was killed at Red Land Acres last Friday.

The victim’s mother said she believed her daughter was an unintended target of rival gangs.

Tackling gang violence has been a specific focus of the Ministry of National Security in the fight against crime, officials have said.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Pastor Reid said they have been doing a number of different mediations in efforts to combat the violence.

“We have been doing some consistent mediation, particularly some of these wars that have sprung up. And, like I said, once we get violence interrupters rolling, I think we could be more effective with it,” he said.

Pastor Reid explained a lot of factors lead to young people choosing or being thrust into a life of crime.

  “But when we look at crime, we got so many mitigating circumstances surrounding it. A lot of our young people, when they come out of school, they’re ill equipped to be able to make a living for themselves, to be able to provide for themselves, or have the right kind of job to be able to take care of themselves.

 “Because we have a lot of students that are coming out of school with zero-point averages. We just push them through the system. I believe one of our challenges is that we need to be able to look at the system.”

 Pastor Reid suggested adjustments can be made to provide students who may not be academically inclined with alternatives to assist in their development, such as trade programmes.

 Recently, National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said from his standpoint the country was facing a crime crisis.

 Asked about this, Pastor Reid said: “We are definitely in a crime crisis”.

 He stressed that it is time for the country to be “proactive” rather than “reactive” in its response to the high frequency of violence occurring.

 “I believe the way forward is to be proactive, to put some things in place that would make sure that even though we are in this crisis, that this is not a crisis that we plan to be in forever.”

 Although the government’s “violence interrupters” initiative has not officially been launched yet, Pastor Reid noted that he with others are still working actively to tackle crime.

 He added: “Crime is everybody’s problem because it affects all of us. I believe that we are at a point in our country, where we cannot afford to sit back and see what the government is going to do, what the school is going to do, what the police is going to do, what the church is going to do, but each one of us needs to get involved.”

 The highest murder count the country has ever recorded was 146 in 2015.