JCF commissioner vows to get on top of it

By Al Edwards

Violent crime and murder is way out of control in the parish of St James.

You cannot have a country that aspires to development and progress if it is undermined by uncontrollable crime and law and order does not prevail.

Earlier this week, saw a triple murder in St James which saw two primary school children innocently caught up in a shootout between gangs.

Jamaica second city and the centre of its tourism product has become a crime-ridden province of murder, mayhem and mendacity if not addressed, threatens the viability of Jamaica.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing earlier today, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JDF) Commissioner Antony Anderson addressed the situation and what the police intend to do about it .

“Someone is protecting the killer of those kids. Everyone associated with this killing owns a part of the death of those kids and a part of the misery and pain of those mothers. We will not be left to the mercy of these criminal terrorists. The security forces have and will bring all the tools available to bear on this situation.

“St James has been one of the most violent parishes in the country with highly organised and criminal gangs engaged in deadly inter-gang conflicts. The St James police parish division has recorded 168 murders and 100 shootings the highest of any police division. And this is down from where it was last year.

““It is down but nowhere where it should be. When you add access to funds obtained from scamming, proceeds from illegal drug trade and extortion, funds of which are used to purchase illegal guns and are part of contract killings, it creates the conditions that we now see. These are the circumstances that are fuelling violent crime.”

So what is being done about it?

The top police boss went on to add that the JDF has been arresting these violent criminals and disrupting and prosecuting criminal gangs. Anderson declared that the police have seized over 180 illegal guns in St James alone representing 30 per cent of the country’s total firearm seizure which currently stands at 608 since the start of the year.

“ We have laid 916 firearm related charges against 841 persons within the first year of the new Firearms Act. Despite this the epidemic of violence persists at a scale and nature that gravely endangers the safety of communities.

“As a consequence and in consultation with the Acting Chief of Defence Staff, we requested that a State of Emergency (SOE) be declared over the parish of St James.

We have demonstrated previous good SOEs and that this methodology has been very effective in reducing violent crimes.”

Some argue that the SOEs demonstrate that the Government is a one-trick pony and must find other methods to quell rampant crime across Jamaica. However, the SOEs have proved effective at least in the short term. The police must also be able to rely on the assistance of the citizenry in bringing criminals to justice. Harbouring them only serves to further harm communities.

Jamaica’s murder rate of 43/100,000 is way too high.

Anderson continued: “You will recall when the Emergency Powers were first brought into effect there was a 70 per cent reduction in killings in St James. We still have and will not return to those days. An SOE at this time will allow us to optimise available resources in particular the support of the JDF. This SOE will complement a suite of other policing activities and our other operations will be intensified.

“Having advanced these strategies to reduce crime and violence across all police divisions, we will continue to enhance our intelligence capabilities and utilise technology in our investigations. This has already resulted in the rapid clear up in complex cases. We will not allow these criminal terrorists to profit from the fear they create in communities.

“As long as Jamaicans need us to keep them safe in their communities, we will continue to respond. There is an urgency to what we do as a society. It is on this basis that there is no place for reticence in using every tool at our collective disposal to staunch the blood-letting.”