Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
SHIELDS
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police Mark Shields has said that both the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard and Marine Police are ill-equipped to monitor the country's coastline and stop the influx of illegal guns and ammunition into the island.
"We need to do a lot more to protect the ports," said the 49-year-old detective who successfully investigated over 100 cases of kidnapping during his tenure at Scotland Yard in the United Kingdom.
The 29-year law enforcement veteran was speaking Tuesday night at the Kiwanis Club of Constant Spring's fifth anniversary function at the Devonshire Restaurant, St. Andrew. He said the Coast Guard and Marine Police are unable to effectively patrol the 635-mile long coastline.
The DCP was speaking against the background of the thousands of illegal guns that have entered the island and are now in the wrong hands. He attributes the influx to the ganja/gun trade between Jamaica and Haiti.
Speaking at a Cabinet retreat on February 22, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips had said that reducing the number of guns in the hands of criminals would be a top priority in the fight against crime. He further stressed that there would be greater use of cargo X-ray technology at airports and seaports.
STRATEGIES
Other strategies would include improving the capability of the marine police by providing them with more vessels and other resources for adequate inshore patrol, and strengthening the capacity of the coast guard for adequate offshore patrol.
According to police records, up to last Sunday over 306 illegal guns and nearly 4,000 rounds of assorted ammunition had been seized. For the past nine months, the police have been probing reports that Jamaicans have been using small fishing vessels to smuggle guns into the island from Haiti.
