Glenroy Sinclair Staff ReporterRENETO ADAMS, a tough-talking Superintendent with 33 years of service in the police force, has been selected to head the new crime unit announced on Sunday as part of the measures to stem mounting killings in the society.
Adams was appointed to the key post by police chief Francis Forbes yesterday.
"Yes, it has been confirmed. I will be the person in charge," said Superintendent Adams after a meeting with his boss.
Speaking ahead of the appointment of Adams to head the Anti-Crime Management Team, Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Edward Seaga said his party would not support the new crime unit if it was headed by a 'crime fighter'.
Mr. Seaga said if the person selected for the job was known for brutal inner-city anti-crime activities, then it would suggest the intention of the government was to put more pressure on inner-city areas.
"I'm not speaking to a particular person by name, but if it is headed by the kind of person designated crime-fighter and who leads brutal gangs of security team members into inner-city areas and commit brutalities and injustices, we are not going to support that," he said.
On Sunday, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said the proactive crime-control strike force would be "able to move anywhere in the Corporate Area" of Kingston and St. Andrew.
The unit, which will start operating on Monday, will target "dons, deportees and other criminal elements". It will also focus on developing and implementing a plan to curtail car-jacking and enhance and execute a planned programme to stem extortion.
Wasting no time, the Superintendent outlined several initiatives to combat the frightening spate of crime. "I will be making a request for an attorney to work along side the unit, giving us legal advice," he said.
"I will also meet members of the various service clubs, the Rastafarian community, the church, members of the private sector, Jamaicans for Justice and representatives of the three major political parties."
He was among 23 members of the police force who went to Namibia in 1989-1990 on UN Peace Keeping Mission. During his tenure at Half-Way Tree Police Station, he was promoted to Assistant Superintendent in 1995 and transferred to the Special Anti-Crime Task Force (SACTF). After a short stint there, he was transferred to Kingston Eastern, then to St. Catherine North where his efforts impacted on the criminals operating in the area, resulting in a fall in the level of crime in the division.
Following a re-shuffle of commanding officers, Superintendent Adams was sent back to Eastern Kingston last year to restore normalcy in a zone where there was an upsurge in criminality.
The new crime fighting unit will also have another veteran front-line crime fighter in Superintendent Donald Pusey, who is now in charge of the volatile South St. Andrew Division. Mr. Pusey is among a handful of officers who participated in a special anti-crime training course. A well-trained policeman, Mr. Pusey served on the 1980 Ranger Squad, Mobile Reserve, Flying Squad, Central Village.
Meantime, reports are that more than 40 police personnel have already been drafted from the Mobile Reserve Unit to join the new team which will be based in the New Kingston area.
