Opposition Spokesperson on National Security, Senator Peter Bunting is urging the government to abandon its use of States of Emergency SOEs, as a routine crime fighting measure.

The senator’s comments follow the release of the crime statistics which revealed that during the first week of the State of Emergency, the murder rate accelerated with 38 murders occurring across Jamaica for the week ending November 20.

He says this represents a rate that is 37 per cent higher than the average weekly number of murders 27.7 per cent since the start of the year.

Mr. Bunting says the JCF rank and file personnel are obviously demoralized and demotivated.

He reiterates that while the Opposition supports the deployment of military personnel to assist the police, whenever there is a level of violence, this is already provided for in ordinary legislation and does not require the declaration of a State of Emergency.