A 52-YEAR-OLD police corporal attached to the May Pen trafffic department in Clarendon was shot and killed during a drive-by shooting in the parish yesterday morning.
Reports are that Corporal Derval Thompson was in the process of issuing a traffic ticket to a motorist near the intersection of Manchester Avenue and Glenmore Road in May Pen, when a white station wagon Toyota motor car with armed men aboard drove up and both the policeman and the motorist were shot. The incident occurred around 11:35 a.m. The motorist was hospitalised in a stable condition.
A 28-year veteran of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Corporal Thompson served in the police traffic department for over 24 years. He is the first officer to be killed by criminals since the start of the year, and the second policeman doing traffic duties to have been shot by gunmen in the parish.
Last September Constable C.C. Cargil of the Highway Patrol was doing spot check duty near the Mineral Heights round-about when he was shot and injured. His attackers fled with his M-16 rifle.
Last year, 14 members of the police force were shot and killed by gunmen.
Corporal Raymond Wilson, general-secretary of the Police Federation and a team were kept busy yesterday evening, meeting with Corporal Thompson's family.
National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips has expressed outrage at the brazen slaying of the policeman, who was shot at least four times. The Minister said the killing further represents the immense challenge that the nation faces in its attempts to remove these "vicious and lawless elements from within communities."
He urged members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to "exercise caution and extra care while on duty" and not to leave any stone unturned in the "quest to lawfully bring the killers to justice."
Police Commissioner Francis Forbes has strongly condemned the brutal slaying of Corporal Thompson and said that all the resources at his disposal will be utilised to bring the killers to justice.
"Where law enforcers are attacked in this fashion, law-abiding citizens are made more vulnerable to acts of aggregation from these barefaced criminals," Commissioner Forbes said.
Head of the Police Traffic Division, Superintendent Ealan Powell, described Corporal Thompson as a honest, easy-going, hard working sub-officer, who was impartial in executing his duties.
"He requested to be transferred from the Traffic Headquarters at Elletson Road to Clarendon late last year, just to move closer to his family," said Supt. Powell.
The corporal died leaving wife, Jaqueline, and their children in Coffee Ground in the parish.
