PM wants security forces to get tougher on criminals

PRIME Minister Dr Andrew Holness has urged the leadership of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to intensify its efforts to go after criminal gangs and the people who support them. Holness, who returned to the island on Saturday, was immediately briefed by Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake about the developments in the Five Miles area off the Sligoville main road in St Catherine which left five men — JCF members Corporal Trevoy Shaw, and Constable Devoney Rose; and civilians Errol Hussey, his son Malique Hussey, and nephew Javoun Cogle — dead, and a 10-year-old girl nursing a gunshot wound. In his response Holness offered condolence to the families of the dead cops, the hope for the full recovery of the injured child, and expressed relief that other civilians who were in the house escaped unharmed.

The prime minister said the reports on the incident provide a stark reminder that Jamaica cannot let its guard down or relax the laws. “We must maintain our resolute posture against organised criminal violence. The emerging accounts of this incident point to a disturbing level of planning and coordination.

You reported that there was misdirection, diversionary gunfire from outside, [and] there was support and prearranged transport. All of this must be fully investigated. “We must uncover and dismantle every person, every network, every resource, every facilitator who enabled this violence,” added Holness.

He said the police account also reveals something even more chilling, that the gunmen were willing to use members of their own households as shields to protect themselves. “This is the kind of evil that we are confronted with in our society. These men had a choice, they could have put down their weapons, they could have surrendered and had their day in court.

Instead they chose lethal violence,” Holness said. “But let me be blunt, we must separate these evil men from our society. We must stop making excuses for men who carry illegal guns, terrorise communities, and prey upon the vulnerable.

They are not protectors; they are not justified by poverty, exclusion, or social injustice. They are not freedom fighters, they are not Robin Hoods, they are not rebels or misunderstood victims. They are parasites and pestilence upon our society,” declared Holness.