IT IS apparent that the targeting and dismantling of criminal gangs will be a major focus of the soon-to-be announced National Crime Plan.It is a necessary and critical target provided that the strategists who are devising the plan recognise at the outset some of the obstacles to its success.
The activities of these criminal gangs are a clear and present danger to the very authority of the state national security. The Police High Command must realise therefore that because of the cunning and sophistication of these gangs, the task of dismantling them will challenge severely the traditional methods by which the police operated.
These are not your normal "corner gangs", specialising in petty thefts, and which are more nuisance than menace. The obstacle the police will face in trying to put them out of business is the realisation of how deep-rooted and organised they are. The fight can't be won by spanking new armoured personnel carriers bearing the insignia of the Jamaica Constabulary rumbling threateningly through the garbage-strewn streets of the inner cities.
The crime gangs that the National Crime Plan must have on its screen as Public Enemy No. 1 are well organised, vicious and murderous. Their specialities are robberies and other street crimes, drug trafficking which earn them millions of dollars, corruption, gun running, extortion, hijackings, kidnapping, the white-collar crimes of financial fraud and forgeries, and contract killings employing from drive-by gunmen to sicarios.
The nature of organised crime in Jamaica that is what gang crime is has changed considerably over the years. It can no longer be fought successfully if ever it could be by brawn and made-for-TV bravado supported by heavy calibre weaponry. Today's organised crime gangs are internationalised and are held cohesive by high technology communications networks.
The challenge to them by the police therefore has to be more cerebral. The police have to rely on more technically trained personnel, more investigative experience, more human intelligence. But with all of that, the police, if they are to enjoy the confidence and co-operation of the public, will need to remain steadfastly professional if they are to cope with the crisis of crime which the nation is now facing.
To achieve their mission of serving, protecting and reassuring the nation in the performance of their duty, they must adhere strictly to the Constitution of the land, respect the dignity of all persons they come in contact with, act firmly but fairly, and keep their personal integrity intact.
