The Opposition says Government’s approach to tackling the crime monster is inadequate.

Spokesman on National Security Fitz Jackson says there is need for a comprehensive approach, as the Zone of Special Operation (ZOSO) only targets specific areas.

The PNP says Zoso is a single mechanism, not a crime plan.

Mr. Jackson states that there is need for a real crime plan to arrest the sky rocketing murder rate.

He says the situation continues to grip the nation and has traumatized communities across several parishes since the start of the year.

Mr. Jackson notes that yesterday was significant in two ways.

First, that the nation’s runaway murder rate reached the 1,300 mark with two months to go before year’s end.

The second, being that the current murder wave is taking place despite the much-heralded Zone of Special Operation.

Mr. Jackson says this furthers the debate as to whether the declared Zones of Special Operation were correctly determined.

He says the party has repeatedly said that the Zoso is not a crime plan and has called on the government to bring a national stakeholder group together to agree on a set of measures to tackle the crisis.

According to Mr. Jackson, the government continues to resist this common sense approach while the crime rate has climbed to 27% above the corresponding period last year.

He says the opposition still believes in the advantage of a national consultative dialogue and again calls on the government to bring all stakeholders to the table so that a national consensus on crime can be hammered out, once and for all.

Meantime, the Opposition says there are actions government could take in the interim to help in stemming crime.

Spokesman on National Security Fitz Jackson is of the view that what is required is a systematic strategy.

He explains that such a strategy should provide critical resources to the security forces and takes into account a broad range of activities to bring the crime monster under control.