Commissioner Blake is correct: Dismantle the gangs

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake is absolutely correct, and he deserves the country’s full backing.

When he told criminals that their havoc and fear now have the full attention of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, he said what law-abiding citizens have waited too long to hear. His warning to those who would raise their guns against the police was equally clear: the goal is to arrest, charge and bring every accused before the courts.

That is the language of a professional force committed to the rule of law. Equally important is his appeal to ordinary Jamaicans. We cannot complain about the violence and then shelter those who commit it.

The gunman is somebody’s son, somebody’s neighbour, somebody’s friend, and that familiarity has long been his best protection. Crime Stop at 311, Police Emergency at 119 and the NIB Tip Line at 811 exist so that we can break that cover, and every call made is an act of courage.

But information must be met with action, and the gangs operating across Jamaica, especially in western Jamaica, are not ordinary criminals. They are organised, heavily armed and ruthless men who are killing machines, armed and dangerous, holding whole communities hostage through fear.

Let us call them what they are: a national security threat. They corrupt, they extort, and they have built an underground illegal economy said to be worth $200 billion.

That money should be building schools, clinics and roads, yet it feeds a war against the people. The Constabulary and its intelligence agencies must use every resource at their disposal, forcefully, strategically and astutely, to go after these gangs.

They must arrest the members and dismantle the structures, from the foot soldiers to the financiers. Locking up the triggerman while the money men sleep soundly will only produce replacements.

The illicit wealth must be traced, seized and stripped away because a gang without money is a gang without power. This must be a national security priority, backed by political will, proper funding and public cooperation.

Commissioner Blake has drawn the line. The question now is whether the rest of us will stand behind him, and we must, for the sake of every family living in fear.

ROBERT DALLEY