Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
HINDS
POLICE RECORDS reveal that one person is murdered every six hours in Jamaica. The statistics get even more frightening with the latest homicide figures from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) showing that 80 persons have been killed so far this month.
Since January, 1,081 persons have been murdered, 180 more than for the corresponding period last year.
"I think we have let ourselves down. We have excelled in every area of living governance, whether as a team or as individuals, but in the whole area of governance it's been a failure of leadership," said Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor Richard Albert. "We should never be where we are," he added.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Monsignor Albert attributed the galloping murder rate to rising poverty and deteriorating social conditions. He said the increasing murder rate brings a "national sense of fear and shame."
CRIME-FIGHTING INITIATIVES
Among the latest crime-fighting initiatives spearheaded by Government is the implementation, last October, of a crack task force team - Operation Kingfish - which targets gangs, crime bosses, extortion rackets and the narcotics trafficking.
"Operation Kingfish has been very successful," Assistant Commissioner Glenmore Hinds told The Gleaner yesterday.
He said the special task force has arrested a number of persons in connection with murders, robberies and narcotics smuggling. ACP Hinds said his team was able to dismantle one of the major criminal organisations in the country.
"We have impacted on several others, including one in central Kingston and Spanish Town," the Assistant Commissioner said.
In March, the Government employed Scotland Yard investigator, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, to assist with the high incidence of homicide. DCP Shields has repeatedly said the police alone cannot fight the problem and has been urging Jamaicans to get on board with the police.
