Rasbert Turner and Tyrone Reid, Gleaner Writers
THE POLICE said yesterday that their probe into a recently unearthed car-stealing ring included the operations of several state agencies, such as the Inland Revenue Department, as well as a few insurance companies.
Superintendent Devon Watkiss, commanding officer at Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID), revealed that the investigations that led to the recent apprehension of four policemen in connection with a car-stealing ring was initiated by OCID and pledged that the crackdown would continue.
"When we are cleaning, we are cleaning all institutions from Inland Revenue Department, to the force to the underworld," asserted Superintendent Watkiss.
While divulging that investigations have led to arrests, the police refused to finger particular companies under the microscope so as to avoid wholesale stigmatisation of these entities, as in many instances a few individuals are responsible for corrupting the system.
A senior official at King Alarm responsible for its vehicle tracking and recovery system corroborated police reports of corruption at the tax collectorates. He revealed that one of the first steps taken by robbers after snatching a car is to switch the license plates.
"They seem to have connections, as we wonder how they are able to get brand new plates and I imagine documents to match plus the ability to dismantle cars quickly is a skill they have," said the King Alarm representative.
Meantime, Detective Corporal Dennis Anthony Campbell of the St. Catherine North Police Division was remanded in custody when he appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.
He is the latest of several members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) who has been charged in connection with the stealing of motor cars.
Investigators told Resident Magistrate Carol Edwards that following investigations by the professional branch of the JCF over a period of time, Campbell was found to be involved in an act of larceny by receiving a stolen car which he kept in his possession. After much surveillance, he was taken into custody last week and charged with unlawful possession of property.
