Holness blasts ‘two-mouth people’, defends JCF

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness yesterday launched a blistering attack on critics of law enforcement, blasting “two-mouth people” while declaring his unwavering support for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Holness comments come amid public debate over last Friday’s deadly gun battle in Sligoville, St Catherine.

Speaking at a handover ceremony for the East Palms housing development in Kingston Central, Holness said state intervention was bringing positive changes to inner-city communities.

“Of course, always. We back the JCF,” Holness said in response to a comment from a resident attending the ceremony.

“We must as Jamaicans, we must talk up in support of the JCF. Criminals mustn’t have no say. There is this ambivalence in the country where somehow it’s almost as if people are trying to defend criminality. No, we don’t defend criminals whatsoever,” the prime minister asserted.

His comments come amid heated public debate over the tactics and preparedness of lawmen who went in search of a “high-risk target” in the Five Miles area near Sligoville last week.

The pre-dawn operation left two young policemen dead and a 10-year-old girl seriously injured. The child remains hospitalised in serious but stable condition.

Three men whom the police identified as gunmen were also killed in the hours-long gun battle, which captured national attention and sparked fierce debate over whether the lawmen were adequately prepared for the operation and their approach.

A 19-minute video that has surfaced online shows a man seated inside the house at the centre of the gunfight, holding what appeared to be a handgun, while two others negotiated with the police about leaving the premises unharmed. The 10-year-old girl, whom the police said was being used as a human shield, could also be heard pleading for her safety.

Holness said residents must reject the creation of safe havens for criminals, whom he accused of devaluing communities by seizing control of them.

“If I’m the last man to talk against criminals, I am going to stand up and be the last man to talk against criminals. All of the two-mouth people them. Sometimes you wonder, where were they when the murder rate was high? Where were they? [But] anyway, we don’t pay them no mind. We focus on getting our things done, getting the job done, which is what my administration is known for – getting things done,” Holness said.

The prime minister said criminal elements had for too long forced law-abiding residents out of their homes by taking control of communities.

“There are people who are of the view that it can never be better, that we can’t deal with the gunmen; the gunmen have taken over the place. Well you know, me no ‘fraid of nobody. So all of them who believe that them control place and them lock place and so forget that. We must make the place available for everybody,” Holness said.

He said the security forces had been “very effective” in displacing criminals from communities, pointing to a declining murder rate and greater life expectancy among young people as evidence of the impact.

“There are many of them who would have died had we not taken the action. So they must thank us for saving their lives. And there are many others who would have died and not involved in any gang activity ...” he said.

Holness said police interventions in Kingston Central communities to stem gang violence and criminality were also improving residents’ quality of life.

“This building, ‘East Palms’, is resulting in an improvement in the quality of life. It takes one building at a time, saving one life at a time, but it all adds up to an improvement of the quality of your life,” he said.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com