By Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE MONTEGO Bay business community is being urged to resist extortion, a common feature of organised crime and a practice reportedly mushrooming outside of the Corporate Area.
"Act now to make your city more resilient against the penetration of organised crime. I would urge you to focus on the resistance to extortion," said Dr. Anthony Harriot, University of the West Indies lecturer on criminology. "Extortion is very important to organised crime in empowering it because what extortion income does it allows it to professionalise itself."
There have been recent police reports of extortion rackets being operated in Manchester and St. Catherine.
Dr. Harriot said that organised crime is able to distinguish itself from other criminal activities considering its relationship to power and key institutions. His research has revealed that it "brings a mutually beneficial corrupt relationship with powerful upper-world actors and institutions thus making it more corrupt and dangerous".
"There has been a dramatic rise in organised crime in this country, high-end drug trafficking is one expression, extortion and protection rackets," Dr. Harriott said. "There are signs that prostitution is being organised on new levels by these crime entrepreneurs."
