Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer

Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green says the numerous anti-gang initiatives put in place by the Jamaica Constabulary Force are beginning to get positive results, as evidenced by the reduced gang-related killings in the first 10 months of this year compared to the corresponding period last year.

Though the number of gang-related killings for this year has skyrocketed in recent months, jumping from 42 at the end of June to 310at the end oflast month, the figure remains far below the numbers recorded over the corresponding period last year.

For the first 10 months of 2009, police statistics obtained by The Gleaner show that gang-related murders totalled 669. Up to October 2008, 574 gang-related homicides were recorded.

Green believes, however, that this year's true figures are "far, far, higher" and cautioned that the increase would become apparent as the force places greater emphasis on the classification of homicide cases.

"We know for a fact that we are definitely underrecording the number of gang-related incidents ... not for any other act, it's just that the information hasn't been gathered properly together," said Green, who is the head of the Major Investigation Task Force (MIT).

"When we have to make the classification, it's an early stage of the investigation, and we may not know then whether its gang-related or not," he added.

Classification of homicides

The 310 gang-related killings represent 26 per cent of the 1,184 murders reported so far this year, making it the single-largest category of motives known to investigators.

Domestic disputes accounted for 48 of the murders this year, while eight were drug-related. 'Other criminal act' accounted for 438 murders, and investigators have not yet established a motive for another 380, the statistics indicate.

Ninety-six people were killed last month, 76 fewer than the 172 killed in October last year, and 47 fewer than the 143 recorded in October 2008.

Green said the police have been putting a "lot of effort" into getting the classification of homicides correct, pointing out that this would guide the strategies used to combat criminal gangs.

"The domestic murders, you just can't prevent. We are not going to be able to have an impact on those. But those murders you can prevent, which are usually the gang murders, you can impact those," Green stressed.

The MIT head revealed that the number of persons charged for murder and shootings had increased by nine per cent over last year.

The statistics also show that up to the end of October, the police had seized 576 firearms, up from 478 and 571 in 2009 and 2008, respectively.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com

Murders by the month from Jan 1-Oct 31

Month 2010 2009 2008

January 141 120 141

February 109 118 105

March 173 120 127

April 135 123 121

May 187 156 202

June 94 124 139

July 86 163 126

August 84 142 146

Sept 79 133 141

October 96 172 143