TEAMS FROM two elite police squads will be deployed to troubled parishes as the police move to implement new strategies to contain escalating crime outside of the capital.
"We will be sending down two teams from the Special Anti-Crime Task Force (SACTF) and the Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID) to Clarendon and Montego Bay," Deputy Commissioner Tilford Johnson told The Gleaner yesterday.
The measure is meant to help arrest the wave of violence now sweeping across Portmore, St. Catherine, Clarendon and St. James.
Members of the two squads will serve as reinforcement to the respective divisions, but according to DCP Johnson, the teams will be under the supervision of Senior Superintendent Donald Pusey, who will be roving between the two parishes.
Reports are that one team was sent to Clarendon yesterday, the second team is expected to hit the streets of Montego Bay sometime today.
"We have a special focus for Portmore. We are looking at the problem areas which are 2-East in Greater Portmore, Gregory Park and an area known as 'Pig City' in Braeton," said DCP Johnson.
MURDER STATISTICS
According to police records, of the 758 persons murdered islandwide since the start of the year, 199 of the victims were killed in South St. Catherine, Clarendon and St. James.
At present, the records is pointing to 80 killed in St. James, an increase of 17 when compared with the corresponding figures for last year, murders in Clarendon have climbed from 38 last year to 52 so far this year. In South St, Catherine it is down from 73 to 67.
The SACTF is the only surviving unit of three special teams named by Police Commissioner, Francis Forbes, more than a year ago to deal with rising violence. The Crime Management Unit (CMU) has been disbanded, while the team that was led by Senior Superintendent Keith 'Trinity' Gardner has been scaled down and its efforts are concentrated mostly on the troubled communities in Area 4.
OCID has been mandated by the Government to rid the street of guns and target gangs and extortion. The police are probing as many as 30 criminal gangs operating between St. Catherine and the Corporate Area.
