They deserved to be detained.... police commissioner speaks on St James SOE

Livern Barrett, Parliamentary Reporter

Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson says he is "reasonably comfortable" that most of the persons detained in the three states of public emergencies "were deserving of it."

The enhanced security measures were imposed in St James, St Catherine North, and sections of the Corporate Area.

The measure ended on January 2 in St Catherine North, in sections of the Corporate Area yesterday and will end on January 31 in St James.

Anderson today insisted that the operations conducted as part of the special operations were driven by intelligence or "at least based on information."

"Operations not driven by intelligence cannot give you a 70 per cent reduction in murder," he said in reference to the decline in the number of murders recorded in St James last year.

"We have managed to do significantly good work," Anderson insisted.

The police commissioner was addressing the Internal and External Affairs Committee of Parliament in response to a report by the Office of the Public Defender.

The report, which was submitted to the committee last year, was critical of some aspects of the conduct of the security forces during the state of public emergency.

As an example, it charged that the detention of citizens during the security measure appeared to be arbitrary and not supported by intelligence.

Using police statistics to support the assertion, the office pointed out that nearly 4,000 persons were detained in the St James state of public emergency, but noted that only four per cent were charged, mainly with minor offences.

Public Defender Arlene Harrison-Henry singled out one operation in which a group of men were detained at a football game in St James.

However, the police commissioner, in his response, pointed to incidents in which persons were killed at funerals and other social events.

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