Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck has urged justices of the peace (JPs) to be more proactive in their communities, serving as ‘light houses’ where citizens can seek advice and resolve disputes.

“We want each of you to be a torchlight in your communities where people can come see you and know that they can get advice, that if they need information they can come to you because you are the outstanding citizens who must be trusted and can be relied on for accurate information. We have far too much misinformation, and propaganda on social media now and, therefore, justices of the peace we want you to be torchlight of truth, the torchlight for information, advice, and what is appropriate as we try to make our communities into better places,” Chuck said.

The minister was speaking at the Justices of the Peace sensitisation session on Tuesday (September 19) for JPs in the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, and St Thomas at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

While acknowledging the challenges faced by the Justices of the Peace Association, he said that the subvention being provided by his ministry to JPs will allow for them to better organise, manage, and assist in delivering justice across Jamaica.

“What we want for more than anything else is for the JPs to be more proactive and to think and to use your imagination, how better we can serve our communities, how better we can get our communities to work towards a better Jamaica. It is possible, we don’t have to fight, we don’t have to be using abuse and violence to settle arguments and disagreements. We must as Jamaicans come together and make Jamaica a better place and I have no doubt that the justices of the peace across Jamaica are the ones who can assist in forging this peace and harmony at every nook and cranny,” he added.