Danville Walker speaking at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum last Friday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

CUSTOMS BOSS Danville Walker has declared that tackling and taking down don-controlled, quasi legitimate businesses is a major imperative of his administration.

Walker insisted that such operations, which are funding and fuelling gang activities on the island, must be plugged in order to bring down the country's high crime rate; however, this task cannot be accomplished if the current manpower and other required resources are not beefed up, he said.

"It is all connected, and the CET (contraband enforcement team) plays an important role with the (other) customs officers to ensure that these types of trade are disrupted. Dons operate many of these businesses that are making huge profits from not paying any taxes," he said.

Walker, commissioner of customs, believes more of the cash used by the criminal underworld to purchase guns and ammunition could dry up if the staff and resource constraints of the Jamaica Customs Department are addressed.

Millions of dollars worth of guns, drugs and cash are seized by the customs department's contraband enforcement team each year. But, not everything is caught.

CET performance review

Despite the gains made during the 2008-2009 fiscal year when compared to the previous year, the CET performance review listed that lack of resources and manpower shortage were its chief constraints.

"Full staff complement (is) still not realised. Insufficient vehicles to transport teams during combined operations, surveillance operations, execution of search warrants and operations at unpredictable/volatile locations and areas ... " read a section of the performance review.

Walker told The Sunday Gleaner that improving on the staff and resource limitations would result in much greater gains. "I believe we would be able to interdict more stuff and even collect more revenue," he said

Omar Guyah, director of enforcement at the Jamaica Customs Department, agrees with his boss. He believes that if the needed staff complement is met and the required resources provided, the results would be staggering. "I think it would at least quadruple the current success rate," he said.

Guyah said the CET would be better able to patrol the waters and prevent guns from coming into the country, as well as stop more drugs from leaving the island, money from the sale of which is used to finance the illegal operations of local gangs.

The CET manpower needs become even more pronounced after examining the procedures relating to the processing of cash seizures, as it is required that every note be photographed. "That's a serious constraint, but we have to do it. It is a tedious activity," said Guyah

Lack of training was also listed in the constraints column. "Progress of investigations (were) retarded due to insufficiently trained and inexperienced staff," the review stated. However, the report also noted that the CET hierarchy would continue to liaise with the human-resource department to acquire suitably qualified staff for the unit. It was also noted that additional courses would be sought from external sources, as well as training programmes would be developed by the department.

outmoded model

Walker, who is hoping that the constraints will be addressed soon, said the current model used by his department is outmoded. He argued that the push to get the department to executive agency status would materialise in about nine to twelve months. This, he said, would change everything. "They would be like night and day, not just for the CET, but all of customs."

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com