By Lynford Simpson, Staff ReporterAN ASSESSMENT team from Scotland Yard, the London Metropolitan Police, will visit the island next week ahead of the implementation of strategies aimed at smashing the gangs which are blamed for the country's spiralling crime wave.
Dr. Peter Phillips, National Security Minister, made the announcement in the House of Representatives yesterday as he updated the country on the latest efforts by Government to curb the crime wave which has claimed the lives of nearly 970 Jamaicans since the start of the year.
"As far as operational support is concerned, an assessment team from Scotland Yard will visit next week to do a needs assessment in relation to the implementation of our counter-gang strategies that we have now embarked upon," Dr. Phillips said.
He used the opportunity to inform the country of the agreements reached with the UK Government, following his visit to that country last week. Noting that the Jamaican security forces were confronting international criminal networks, Dr. Phillips said: "The response to them must in turn be international in scope". To this end he lauded the UK Government for the assistance it was providing.
He cited the agreement on the part of the UK Government to broaden the focus of the current counter-narcotics operations to include a broader concern of criminal gangs operating across borders - and the general criminality which they spawn in the wake of their drug dealings - as among the "more significant outcomes" of his visit.
Apart from the visit of the Scotland Yard team, the UK has also agreed to:
Provide operational assistance to establish a National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). The NIB, which will be established early in the new year, will amalgamate the various intelligence-gathering operations of the JCF.
Assist with the provision of a wide range of equipment and training support in relation to intelligence-gathering.
Additionally, both countries have agreed to share databases on community gangs operating within their borders and the terms of the memorandum of understanding which led to the installation of Ion Scan equipment at the island's airports earlier this year to detect would-be drug smugglers, have been extended indefinitely.
The Security Minister emphasised that "the collaborative agreements arrived at with the British Government will help us in a range of areas from training, to the sharing of information and intelligence on Jamaican gangs operating both here and in the UK, and an active participation in the dismantling of these gangs".
He said Jamaica would receive three high-speed interceptor boats from the United States later this month and said the Ministry was in the process of acquiring new vessels for the Coast Guard. New Coast Guard facilities are to be established in Montego Bay and Port Antonio.
Pointing to the signing last week of an MOU with the US which will provide for technical support help stem the movement of persons with criminal intent across borders, Dr. Phillips said: "The agreement will strengthen our capacity to control the movement of persons across our borders without disturbing legitimate travellers".
The new computer-based systems to be installed at the island's airports and seaports, will provide instantaneous information to immigration officers and security personnel.
At the same time, the Security Minister said the new crime-fighting measures were not meant to be a popularity contest and warned yesterday that no one would be exempt from the law. "Claims of political affiliation will neither be cause for harassment nor protection," he said.
