Security Forces Will Use Appropriate Action to Eliminate Paramilitary Groups – Dr. Phillips

Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, has said that the security forces would be using appropriate action to eradicate crime, violence and paramilitary groups plaguing the island.
The Minister was speaking at the 19th staging of the Neighbourhood Watch Conference, at the University of Technology (UTech), on November 4.
According to the Minister, the people of Jamaica would not tolerate paramilitary groups of criminals. Noting that although the solution might not be immediate, the security forces, “will not allow those groups [criminals] to persist and terrorize the country”, Dr. Phillips said.
The Minister emphasised that in order to sustain the gains made thus far, the population must throw its support behind the police.
“This month we celebrate the second anniversary of Operation Kingfish, and everyone would agree that that Task Force has had tremendous success in rolling back the tide of criminality in our land,” he argued.
The Neighbourhood Watch programme was established in 1986 to empower communities to employ strategies to prevent crime. Saturday’s conference was held under the theme: ‘Police and Citizens in Partnership for Safer Communities’.
The seminar comprised an opening session, after which the conference was dissolved into five workshops to discuss the topics: ‘Conflict Resolution’, ‘Community Safety and Development’, ‘Team Building and Leadership’, ‘Domestic Violence and Child Abuse’, and ‘Police Youth Relations’.