Gangs mimicking national security operations – SSP Phillips

This was disclosed by Senior Superintendent (SSP) Christopher Phillips, commander in charge of the St Catherine South Police Division.

SSP Phillips was addressing a special security meeting with members of the business community of Old Harbour on April 26.

“Security now is everybody business. And I know that the security budget in most big companies is the easiest budget or is the budget that most persons tend to want to cut quickly. But the tide’s changing,” the senior crime fighter told a sparse group of business operators converged on the third floor of the Orions Plaza on South Street.

“If a youngster come up now and se him a bad man, him a go get gunshot because the gangs are now organizing themselves and people (gangsters) are now claiming territories. So you dear not come into my territory and commit a robbery. You ago get gunshot.

“So you have a kind of organization that is taking place that in my estimation is starting to mimic the operations of the even the police force or the security forces. You have planning taking place, you have recruitment taking place. You have briefing. De-briefing. You have surveillance taking place. You just name them, all the activities that the force would do these guys are now mimicking. People (gangsters) get all transfer. So what you find now is organized crime that happens in various and different departments.”

In the last two months the country has witnessed an increase in high stakes robberies involving tens of millions of dollars executed by criminals with tactical precision. Three of those heists were committed in the St Catherine South Police Division with criminals carting off with more than $50 million combined.

According to the police high command, the rise in these high-stake and brazen robberies is a desperate attempt by gangsters to continue fund their enterprise, as the state strengthens its grip on the crime situation in the country. This is supported by police data on crime for the first quarter of the calendar year with major crimes dropping by 31 percent.

Indeed, the numbers are suggesting the tide is turning in favour of the security forces, but to celebrate now would be premature and rather foolhardy.

“Some persons who are involved in robberies sometimes they don’t even know each other but they come together for a task,” said SSP Phillips as he sought to explain the new dynamics of an ever-evolving criminal underworld.

“Gangsters have been assigned specific roles that are exclusive like being a driver, the shooter, and kidnapper. Gangs are integrating for the purpose of business.”

Connections are usually made when these players of crime are incarcerated, he told those in attendance. This he noted has afforded gangsters to strengthen their alliance and build out a network that has made the task of law enforcers very difficult.

“Man from Mobay meet man from Portmore (in prison). So a man from Mobay can come here, do a crime, and go back down easily on a bus,” he explains. “In fact a Knutsford (Express) him a travel in a the AC go back down. Nice and easy. Him not even have to walk with a weapon because that is provided for this time. What that does for policing investigation especially when you have divisional borders? What that means for you?”

“We have to understand the emerging criminal trends and adjust,” he emphasized.

As a countermeasure to these new offensives by gangsters, the police have embarked on a series of engagements in the division with primarily business operators, this being one of them.

There is also the impression that business operators are disinterested in the fight against crime, evidenced by the low turnout at Wednesday’s meeting, and are seemingly only concern with making profit despite the change in the environment taking place around them. It’s a dynamic that every business owner must contend with to remain in business while they try to insulate their operations against crime which doesn’t come cheap.

“You have to take that initial step to target hard. As scamming slowly go out of style the criminal landscape will change again and they are going to be looking for the vulnerable persons. They are going to be looking at businesses that are vulnerable,” he said.

“Crime cannot flourish in a community that cares. So if the business community cares and say so no matter what, you not coming into Old Harbour so easy it can happen. They know where to go to take the chances.”

And given Old Harbour’s rapid expansion, which is projected to continue within the next decade at least, it will become a prime target for the country’s fastest growing community, the SSP contends.

He implored businesses to ensure that a CCTV system is in place and working, establish a secure room especially for those heavily trafficked businesses that handles a lot of cash, monitor entry and exit points and adopt policies such as instructing persons, upon entering the business, to remove mask, hat, and hoody and look into the camera before engaging them.

“Set your policies and stick to it and have control,” he said. “I have been to some banks and I have to do that. Look at security assessment. We are extending ourselves to assist businesses. So if you don’t know anything about security send a little note to the territorial officer to send a team to do a security assessment and give them a feedback.”

“What we want person to look at, specifically business operators, is to look more at their operations and security arrangement that are in place. Look at it critically to identify weaknesses, scrutinize the employment process so as to mitigate against any possible attack,” added Detective Inspector Tazio Stewart, who heads the division’s proactive investigative unit (PIU).

Since the start of the year the divisional commander in chief said instituting a rapid response team to patrol the Old Harbour sub-division is one of the main strategies among others that have contributed to the dramatic decline in crimes such as robberies.

But taking the fight to the gangs remains a relentless pursuit, he reasoned, with police intelligence is indicating that an increasing number of ex-members of the security forces are teaming up with gangs.

“What development comes with is more crime in the space. More people want to come a claim territory for criminal activities. Are you being prepared? Are you setting that foundation? Are you living good as businesses down here? Are you talking to each other? Do you have regular meetings? Do you discuss the issues affecting you? We have to care a little more.

“Criminals thrive on disorder. Pay attention to these things and start set the tone. Define the culture of businesses for Old Harbour and let that culture have at the top of it security,” said the top cop.