Government going after gangs
Published: Wednesday | October 7, 2009
Dr Marco Mazzocchi Alemanni (right), ambassador and head of delegation, European Commission to Jamaica, speaks with Deputy Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington (centre) and Fausto Zuccarelli, special prosecutor of the Anti-Mafia Affairs Office in Italy, during a break at a European Commission/Government of Jamaica seminar on the fight against organised crime in Jamaica held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
The Ministry of National Security has revealed that it is collaborating with critical stakeholders to develop a comprehensive gang-reduction strategy.
National Security Minister Dwight Nelson said it was anticipated that the strategy would accompany the anti-gang legislation which will provide for the suppression and disruption of highly organised gangs and related gang activities.
Addressing day one of a Government of Jamaica/European Commission seminar on the fight against organised crime in Jamaica, Nelson said the approach was consistent with anti-gang legislation in other jurisdictions such as Florida in the United States, Canada and countries in Central America.
Nelson said the development of the anti-gang legislation and the gang-reduction strategy must be undertaken and treated as a priority to tackle the problem, as a key manifestation of organised crime in Jamaica is the proliferation of organised criminal gangs.
