POLICE IN the Kingston Eastern Division are crediting its 90-day Crime Reduction Action Plan for a significant reduction in homicides there.
Superintendent Assan Thompson said yesterday that 19 murders have been committed in east Kingston communities in the past three months, 31 fewer than the same period last year.
"When we launched this plan we wanted to see a 10 per cent reduction in homicides and shootings," Supt. Thompson told The Gleaner yesterday. "Homicides are down 62 per cent and shootings are down by 42 per cent, so we are feeling reasonably good."
Supt. Thompson said that, of the nine divisions in east Kingston, only two remain hostile - Rockfort, a community prone to bursts of gang violence, and Bull Bay.
"All the others, including Franklyn Town, Rollington Town, Mountain View, have seen a major reduction in crime," he said.
Superintendent Thompson, who has been in charge of the Kingston Eastern Police Division since mid-February, said the second phase of its 90-day crime plan started June 2.
FLARE-UPS
Several communities in east Kingston, including Rockfort and Franklin Town, have been rattled by gun violence in 2005. Five persons were murdered in Franklyn Town on the evening of February 11 and early February 12.
Three weeks after those incidents, Delano 'Delly Bop' Waite, who police say was connected to the shootings, was killed by a squad from the Kingston Eastern Division. Police say Waite, 26, was linked to gang violence in the community and had been on their most wanted list.
The lawmen have not escaped the criminal onslaught. In February, residents in McIntyre Villa, commonly known as Dunkirk, set ablaze three police service vehicles to protest the shooting of Donovan Clarke who lived in the area.
