Mark Wignall | Gangs waiting out SOEs
Published:Thursday | January 9, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Whenever Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, speaks, he sounds most impressive and convincing. Yesterday morning, he spoke on Nationwide Radio and told the hosts that at the next gathering of minds, he would be advising the government to continue the states of public emergency (SOEs).
By his reckoning, the SOEs have brought some amount of stability to the murder rate, even if the general direction is towards a slight increase. The commissioner also stated that ‘critical mass’ has been reached inside the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) with workable majorities of those in the officer corps, and in the rank and file supporting him.
Many of us would see this as something quite new for an outsider, an army man. Colonel Trevor MacMillan, appointed in 1993, and Rear Admiral Lewin in 2007, did not earn any medals of love and admiration from either faction of the JCF in their time. But the present commissioner claims he is close to that sweet spot.
Most of that would mean that the most informed and critically trained officers with access to the commissioner would tell the major general that many gang members throughout the island have been closely scrutinising the operations in various SOEs, been gaming some of it but, more than anything else, waiting them out until they expire.
Like the scenario that oftentimes operates in the corporate world, and in party politics and government, there will be those close to the leadership with information gleaned at the retail level who believe it is best to tell the leader what is most palatable instead of what is the painful, undisputed truth.
MURDER MONSTER
On that basis, the commissioner would know that at some stage the organised gang members with the most guns would be expecting the political system to run out of options on continuing to use the SOEs as the main national security tool on containing the murder monster.
“Right after the 2010 Tivoli killings, the main gangsters, either allied to the political parties or barely attached, were on the run,” said a sergeant of police to me last weekend.
“You know my politics and me support PNP (People’s National Party) but most a di bad guy dem from PNP, and especially the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) was on di run. Wi miss all the good chance fi pick dem up at that time,” he said.
“What about now?” I asked him. Most of what he related to me made sense.
“Maybe we need to carry di force to 20,000, but maybe we also need a set a young people wid science training. But, at some stage, di gang man dem gwine want tek back dem space fi extortion and control.”
I called him back yesterday morning because I knew he had been listening to the Nationwide morning show. “Did you hear the commissioner? What did you think of him?” I asked.
“He said all the right things, but because he could not go into details about certain gangs, di most wi can do is guess. Even if he is going to give the government the national security stamp to continue the SOEs, if he knows before that it will not get approval in Parliament, he will have to prepare a plan for that. He will have to hit hard in certain communities to send a message. He will have to send a message dat di JCF has better info on these troubled communities and will not be afraid to use that to gain access to gunmen and murderers and arrests and conviction.”
“And if that does not work, what then?” I asked.
“Well, there is always divine intervention,” he said.