WESTERN BUREAU:
SUPERINTENDENT NEWTON Amos, the outgoing Divisional Commander for the St. James police, says the new crime-fighting initiatives put in place under his watch have been successful, and has called for their duplication islandwide.
Speaking at a press conference at the Freeport Police Station on Saturday, Superintendent Amos said that if the trends they were seeing early in the year continues, "St. James will be in for a very pleasant awakening as far as crime is concerned."
He was referring to the new initiative taken by the police regarding the use of force during operations following the shooting death of two elderly gentlemen allegedly by the police in Flanker in October last year.
He said the "police had pledged to ensure that the operational officer who was on the ground, would have looked at briefing of personnel relative to the new process of risk management dealing with the use of force" while noting that "we were not fired on by these culprits... hence there were no need for the police to exert any unnecessary or excessive force to bring these accused persons to face the courts of the land."
EFFORTS FRUITFUL
The "initiatives that were put in place last year are bearing fruits", he said adding that "the months of October to December have seen a gradual trending down of all serious crimes."
Mr. Amos, who finishes his tour of duty in St. James later this week and will be sent back to the St. Andrew South Division said, "we are in the month of January and we are way ahead correspondingly to last year and have solved seven of eight major crimes, including murder."
The press conference Saturday was called to announce the confiscation of two illegal guns and the arrest of five men, one of whom he described as a 'big fish'.
The two murders for the year, both by machetes, have seen arrests while a number of persons have been picked up for other serious crimes, including the killing of a district constable and a couple, both in the Cambridge area.
Mr. Amos told the members of the media that thanks to the new approach they have taken to information gathering, data collection and analysis and the ability to put a plan in place and work according to it is "working tremendously and I am quite optimistic that if we continue to use the process St. James will be in for a very pleasant awakening where crime is concerned."
He added: "I think the powers that be should use St. James' success in the new Reform and Modernisation process to spend additional money to upgrade in terms of equipment and resources for the four pilot projects to ensure they succeed during the phase of the pilot..."
