Prime Minister Says Police Will Continue to Dismantle Gangs

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the police will continue to do the meticulous investigative work necessary to dismantle all the gangs in the country.

Making his contribution to the 2021/22 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 18, Mr. Holness noted that over the last three years, 167 gangsters have been arrested and 130 placed before the Courts.

“This has disrupted the activities of 10 of the major violent gangs across the island,” he said.

Mr. Holness pointed out that in September 2020, the Strategic Counter-Gang Taskforce – a multi-formation partnership between the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch, Specialised Operations and the Financial Investigations Division – was established to further enhance the Constabulary’s counter-gang efforts.

“In October 2020, we obtained our first conviction of a criminal gang,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr. Holness argued that the anti-gang strategy, apart from the disruptive operational activities designed to reduce their freedom of movement and action, relies heavily on the use of the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act – commonly known as the anti-gang legislation, to investigate and prosecute the gang as a collective whole.

He pointed out that Jamaica’s homicides are significantly biased towards persons affiliated with gangs or gangsters, noting that 80 per of murders could be linked to some gang-related activity.