Criminal masterminds on police radar, Bailey warns

By Prince Moore    

 

The Police High Command has issued a warning to criminal masterminds that they they will be targeted as the police launch an all-out assault on criminal gangs.

 

The warning follows Sunday's attack in Cherry Tree Lane in Four Paths, Clarendon.

 

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey says the police have already dismantled several active gangs across the island.

 

Speaking Monday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, DCP Bailey said a renewed focus will be placed on ridding the country of gangsters who continue to wreak havoc in communities. 

 

"One of the things that I want Jamaicans to be aware of [is] that the gang leaders, the hierarchy of the gang, when you look at their lifestyle, they send their children to the best schools, they live the best lives. And when you look at the so-called foot soldiers, they live in depravity, hand to mouth, hardly can fend for themselves. And they have been tricked by these individuals by giving them a weapon and cause them to believe that a firearm empowers them. We are going to reverse it," he vowed. 

 

Asked whether the police have the tools to accomplish this, DCP Bailey insisted the police is already on a path to dismantling gangs, adding that "we are going to reverse it to the point where people become afraid of even being associated with a gang".