STAR of the Month: Spice wants crime-free Jamaica

We're starting off 2019 with a bang! Our STAR of the Month for January is none other than the Queen of Stage, Spice.

The entertainer undoubtedly had one of the best years of her career in 2018, and she is hoping to follow up on that success in the new year. She has promised to keep this month's feature 'spicy', as she addresses several issues in the next few weeks. There is no guarantee that she will steer clear of controversy, but that is why we love her.

Hoping to start the new year off on the right foot, Spice has put aside her usual 'peppery' side to take on the more calm demeanour of Grace Hamilton, as she reflected on the state of the country. Professing her love for Jamaica, she said that she only has one wish for the island for 2019 and beyond.

"My all-time wish for Jamaica over the years has been to see a violent-free Jamaica. I travel the world a lot, and most of the times when I visit new countries, I ask about the crime rate because I just want to compare and say my country is doing good. But, the truth is, majority of the times, we always have the worst crime rate, and so my wish is to see a crime-free Jamaica. And so for 2019, I want to see the crime rate drop, if is even by half," she said.

Giving pointers on how the country can actively fight the crime monster, Spice said that there is a need for more advanced technology.

"When I travel the world, there is so much modern technology. Even being on the streets, they have cameras at every corner, we need more of that here. If people know camera a go pick dem up, dem nah go do certain things. The police force need a likkle more modern technology, so when dem hear a shot over one place dem can just go pan di sup'm and see say da man deh did do so and so. The system needs updating," she said.

DEM GUNMAN YAH FRAID

She also said that laws surrounding how a gun licence is obtained need to be more relaxed. The entertainer believes that if more citizens were able to legally arm themselves, the crime and violence would decrease.

"I think they can be a little more 'free-er' with the gun licence in Jamaica because if most of the people who are eligible to gain a gun licence could just go up to the FLA (Firearm Licensing Authority) and get one, people won't just walk up to someone and try rob someone or kill someone because they won't know if that person has a gun too," she said.

"I believe that if a lot of people had a licensed firearm, the crime rate would decrease. People would second think just going around and shooting people. Nuff a dem gunman yah fraid fi dead too. As much as dem a gunman, dem nuh wah dead. Nobody nuh wah dead. Not to make a comparison or anything, but in Atlanta, the crime rate is not as high because they call it the 'gun state' almost everyone has a gun, so somebody nah go so quick fi pull dem gun and shoot someone."