Murders on the decline in the first quarter of the year
Published:Friday | April 8, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
The police are pointing to their recent gang-busting strategy as one of the main reasons for the dramatic decline in murders in the first quarter of this year.
Between January 1 and March 31, the number of murders recorded by the police dipped by 44 per cent when compared with last year and a constant decline month over month.
Official numbers show 238 murders in the first quarter, down from 426 murders recorded for the corresponding period last year.
There was also a 38 per cent decline in shootings which moved from 442 in 2010 to 273 in the first three months of this year.
With criminal gangs responsible for the majority of the murders and shootings last year, the police employed anti-gang strategies at the start of this year and deputy commissioner in charge of operations, Glenmore Hinds, says that is bearing fruit.
According to Hinds, at the start of this year, the police identified 46 significant criminal gangs operating across the island.
"Twenty-six of those gangs are now reassessed to be moderate, so what it is indicating is that we are making significant progress.
"I am not saying that we have dismantled these gangs but we are saying that significant progress has been made," Hinds told journalists during a media briefing yesterday.
"For example, one of the major gangs, so far 13 of its members are no longer with us either through intra-gang activity or those killed in confrontation with us and several of its members have been arrested," Hinds said in reference to the St Catherine-based Clansman gang.
"While significant progress has been made, we have not yet been able to dismantle it."
target and dismantle
Hinds noted that Police Commissioner Owen Ellington had mandated heads of the 19 police divisions to target and dismantle at least three major criminal gangs in the first quarter of this year and had set aside special days as anti-gang days.
"These days were not advertised. We did our work quietly and precisely and that showed significant results," Hinds said.
He told journalists that the police targeted the spaces where gang members operated and increased operations designed to curtail the movement of criminal gangsters.
"This resulted in the arrest, conviction and charge of critical gang members including Christopher 'Dog Paw' Linton, Tesha Miller, Horace Ramsey, otherwise called 'Pugu', and Garfield Shand, called 'Nigger Charlie'... " Hinds said while noting that some of those alleged gangsters were killed in reported confrontations with the police.
The deputy commissioner said the anti-gang strategy has also resulted in the seizure of several items, including motor vehicles and houses while the police have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act to go after the assets of criminals.
He further announced that each police division has established proactive investigation teams to go after the ill-gotten gains of gangsters.
Already, these teams are probing 52 cases and Hinds said he expects other investigations to be launched shortly.