The largest of the English-speaking Caribbean islands, Jamaica is the one most affected by criminal activity, and the one that benefits most from tourism, earning nearly US$3.2B in 1999.

Services contribute more than 50 per cent to the island's gross domestic product (GDP) and employ about 60 per cent of the workforce.

With 34.2 per cent of the population below the poverty line, it stands to reason why the government of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson is deadly serious about curbing the spiralling crime rate and remove the negative international impact this would have on his country especially in a global environment that is concerned about terrorism.

According to Jamaica police statistics, a total of 401 persons, including six policemen, have been killed up to the end of July this year, giving Jamaica the fourth highest murder rate in the world after South Africa, Colombia and Namibia.

In 1998, Jamaica had a murder rate of 37 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Recently, the National Committee on Crime and Violence handed in its report to the government with recommendations for a Crime Plan aimed at reducing alarming levels of crime in the northern Caribbean island tourist resort.

The bipartisan committee was formed after the July 2001 social disturbances that claimed the lives of 27, including two members of the security forces and posed a serious threat to the economic viability of the island.

Indeed, one of the root causes that the crime commission highlighted was the political tribalism that currently exists in the country in which supporters of the two major parties - the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP) - violently defend their constituencies especially in the inner city.

According to the commission, political tribalism has bred a "dependency syndrome" and divided communities along party lines.

To fight crime, the committee made 16 recommendations one of which is a Death Swap programme that would involve the swapping of guns for education and jobs and make serious efforts to stop the flow of guns into the country.

It said that the political leadership in Jamaica must recommit to a set of values and a code of conduct consistent with a safe, peaceful and prosperous country.

Another important recommendation was the need to improve the effectiveness of police and police/community relations; and interestingly, the committee suggested that reformed gang leaders should be used in the fight against crime and violence.

The seven-member commission, headed by National Security Minister K.D. Knight, also suggested that there should be social legislation to address acts of terrorism; introduce affirmative action in employment; develop job descriptions for parliamentarians, and eliminate persons with questionable backgrounds and connections from representational politics.

"The Committee has the expectation that the bi-partisan approach toward addressing the problem of crime and violence would continue.

"The government and the opposition should reconvene their meetings to discuss implementation of the recommendations within one month of receiving this report," the commissioners said.

Apart from the political tribalism that affects the country, crime is influenced by a vicious turf battle waged by gangs headed by "Dons" who have political connections at the highest level, making the fight against crime a delicate political balancing act.

Just last year, a senior member of the governing party was roundly criticised for attending the funeral of one of these "Dons".

Fortunately for Jamaica, much of the crime is not directed at visitors, but rather interconnected with a thriving drugs trade and compounded by social and economic dislocation due to poverty and huge disparities in income levels.

Why crime and its attendant negative fallout is so worrying to Jamaican authorities, and indeed other Caribbean administrations, is that the island is beginning now to feel the full effects of a limp world economy and complications arising out of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

According to the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), in the three weeks subsequent to the attacks on the U.S., hotel occupancy rates in all Caribbean islands fell, in some cases by over 50 per cent.

Almost all of the islands will experience some economic contraction by the end of 2002 of between three and five per cent - a significant figure in light of the relatively small economies.

Yet Jamaican authorities are agreed that the battle against crime has to be multi-dimensional cutting across social, economic and political sectors if any headway is to be achieved.

They have the financial and technical assistance of the U.S., Canadian and British governments even though there have been persistent setbacks given the attractiveness of the enormous money generated by the illegal drugs trade.

Moreover, government officials in Jamaica blame, in some part, U.S. authorities for sending home immigrants from the islands who have been convicted of serious crimes in America.

As well, there is a significant connection between the U.S.-based "posses" or gangs and their counterparts in Jamaica.

Officials say these deportees have developed sophisticated criminal techniques that they have learned in the U.S. sometimes beguiling the already under-manned police force.

Whatever the real source for the expanding crime levels, it is left to the governments in the region to protect their islands' economic viability by going to the root causes of crime and continue to attract the fickle tourist dollar.

And Jamaica can ill afford to have increasing levels of crime continue to affect its economic growth.

The violence in West Kingston resulted in additional expenditure on tourism promotion and security.

For a country with an external debt of US$4.7B and declining terms of trade, the last thing it would want is for social problems to derail its economic development efforts.