Forbes shows video of West Kingston gunbattle POLICE COMMISSIONER Francis Forbes yesterday released an edited version of aerial video footage of running gunbattles between heavily armed gunmen in West Kingston and members of the security forces during the unrest which started in the troubled community last Saturday. "The helicopter was equipped with a FLIR (forward looking infra-red radar). From their vantage point in the sky they followed the activities of gunmen who frequently set up ambush for the security forces on the ground. The helicopter reported that groups of up to 20 men were spotted with what appeared to be assault rifles such as AK-47 and M-16 and also handguns," Commissioner Forbes told journalists. Gunmen in groups, some attired in dark coloured clothing were seen in the footage running tactically in the Denham Town, Spanish Town Road and Tivoli Courts areas, firing the weapons. It was like a military exercise, as the men ran across the streets one by one, covering each other. At times they hugged the walls of both sides of the road, with those armed with rifle(s) leading the pack. At least one man in each group was armed with a rifle. Each group had a man carrying a bag. According to the police, the bag had in ammunition and cellular phone. Burning debris All this was happening while roads were blocked and littered with burning debris. In the background members of the security forces were heard transmitting information about the location of the gunmen. Commissioner Forbes said during the shooting some policemen were pinned down for more than an hour and had to be rescued by colleagues in the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) V-150 armoured vehicle. Based on the experience, the Commissioner is now preparing a multimillion dollar shopping list to submit to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, to better equip his men. In a public statement recently, Prime Minister Patterson said he had instructed Finance Minister Omar Davies to release the necessary funds to the National Security Ministry, to purchase equipment needed by the lawmen. The Commissioner said the police have learnt several lessons, based on what transpired in West Kingston. According to Mr. Forbes the police were successful during an operation carried out yesterday in the neighbouring community of Wilton Gardens (Rema). "A cordon and search operation was carried out in the Race Course Lane and East Road areas and one 9-mm Berretta pistol with serial number erased and one magazine containing 11 rounds of 9-mm cartridges, two sticks of dynamite with detonator fuse, 35 rounds of .38 cartridges, 50 rounds of 9-mm cartridges, 18 rounds of 5.56 cartridges, one M-16 magazine, one home-made pistol and 59 packets of ganja were found," the Commissioner said.
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