THE OPERATIONAL reshuffle by the Police High Command should signal an end to the series of special squads that have been used to fight crime in Jamaica for nearly three decades.
The names have ranged from the so-called Eradication Squad of the eighties, through the 'ACID' of the nineties to the most controversial of all the Crime Management Unit (CMU), which has now been disbanded to mixed reactions, of approval and recrimination.
The police reshuffle creates a new division to focus specifically on gangs, extortion rackets, 'criminal dons' and the illegal importation of guns and ammunition. We believe that this latter target may be key to all the others, for it is the proliferation of guns which is the root of the spate of murders, in particular, which heighten the apprehension about the level of crime.
Just last week, the latest arms find of 11 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition was discovered in a Newport West warehouse in downtown Kingston. The illegal cache had been hidden in an air compressor cylinder welded shut an indication of the level of sophistication now employed by criminal organisers.
The fact that so many guns remain at large suggests that many such shipments have escaped detection.
The other targets of the new police division are extortionists, dons, and gangs. The insidious nature of extortion involves a level of fearful compliance by victims too scared to report to the police and thus pay to stay in business.
Targeting the so-called dons touches on political garrisons which have evolved into criminal fiefdoms beyond the control of normal party organisation or so we theorise.
Presumably tackling gangs will involve dealing with the illicit drug trafficking which has been so often cited as the basis of the heightened levels of criminal activity.
We expect that the new police division will give more emphasis to the management of crime unlike the CMU tactic of marauding operations. We have stressed the point before that painstaking detective work is basic to solving crime; which in turn depends on support from communities and law-abiding citizens. The shoot-out as an option should be a last resort.
The Police Commissioner must be able to rely on aides committed to the common strategies devised at the top levels of the High Command.
Mr. Forbes has invited consultations with experts from the top law enforcement agencies from the UK and the US. The benefits to be thus derived must change the old habits of Rambo-style policing.
Police work should cease to be hampered by the controversies aroused by seeming extra-judicial killings which challenge the justice system and stain the country's image at home and abroad.
The Commissioner has injected a note of urgency in directing his area officers to present in writing an anti-crime plan for the next 30 days no later than next Monday.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
