Regular police practices won't curb Jamaica's gang problem - McKay

 

Criminologist Dr. Jason McKay says the disruptions to businesses, schools and court proceedings in Spanish Town, St. Catherine on Thursday as a result of unrest show that regular police practices will not help to curb Jamaica's gang problem.

 

Speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM, Dr. McKay said the level of crime and violence in Jamaica in the last 50 years is not a normal law enforcement problem.

 

Dr. McKay said Jamaica should follow other countries and implement stricter laws that will result in people being detained for prolonged periods as law enforcement seeks to topple gangs. 

 

"If you want a change where this type of thing couldn't happen at all, you'd have to go from normal regular police procedures to a state that...actually could do like what El Salvaldor does - detained for a long period of time without charge. Things that are not normal in a normal society would then have to be adopted by us, because we don't have a normal problem," he contended. 

 

The criminologist sought to explain the psychological control wielded by criminals after residents of Tawes Meadows, St. Catherine protested the fatal shooting of Othneil Lobban, the reputed leader of the One Order gang.

 

Some residents praised Lobban, saying he was one of the best gang leaders to pass through Spanish Town and that he had done a lot of good for the community.

 

Dr. McKay said the gangs are able to exert control over residents who benefit from their ill-gotten gains. 

 

"So they're saying stuff like this particular person or that person are good people who are considered dons, but where do these dons' income come from? You know, it's coming from business people, taxi operators and vendors who are trying to make a living every day and having to pay out extortion money.... The point is that it's coming at the expense of somebody else's labour and that's what they're not looking into," he explained.