NATIONAL SECURITY Minister Peter Bunting has confirmed that the Government has special plans for Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Justin Felice after his contract expires later this year.

Bunting also disclosed that other police personnel from the United Kingdom (UK) would soon be arriving in Jamaica to boost the expertise of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

“We are in the process of looking for someone at a senior superintendent level from the UK to head our Crime Scene Investigation unit,” Bunting said.

Sources say ACP Felice will be reassigned to the Financial Investigations Division of the Ministry of Finance after he completes his contract with the JCF. However, Bunting was coy in response to queries about the plans for Felice.

DISCUSSIONS UNDER WAY

“ACP Felice’s contract comes to an end in September this year and discussions are under way for a reassignment of his current position, which is head of the Anti-Corruption Branch, of about five years,” said Bunting.

He added: “I am not in a position to confirm what that new position will be, but I believe it is the intention of the Government that he will move on from the leadership of the Anti-Corruption Branch to another assignment.”

Bunting said he was misinterpreted when news reports suggested that the use of expatriate police in Jamaica had come to an end.

He said he was responding to a question in reference to the end of ACP Les Green’s tenure. “I said I believe that after eight years, if he hadn’t transferred the skills and the best practices, then he would have failed in his objectives.”

Source: Jamaica-Gleaner.com

MOCA to go after crime kingpins, facilitators

NATIONAL Security Minister Peter Bunting yesterday launched the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA), which he says will go after crime kingpins and their facilitators, including lawyers, bankers and other public officials.

He said the task force will also investigate cyber crimes.

“Targeting these top bosses and their facilitators is a most effective way of degrading criminal networks, seizing their assets and undermining their power, which ultimately allows the network to be permanently dismantled,” said Bunting, noting that MOCA was formed as part of the priority recommendation out of the 2012/2016 National Security Policy.

“This morning really signals a change in policy emphasis. We are shifting the focus from street-level criminals to target the top bosses — the kingpins — and perhaps more importantly, will be our focus on the people who handle the money… the facilitators,” he said.

The launch took place at the Police Officers’ Club in St Andrew.

Bunting theorised that without monetary profits, criminals will desist from executing crimes, and targeting the ‘facilitators’ will both assist with crime-fighting efforts on the ground as well as prevent ill-gotten funds from being laundered or sent overseas out of the reach of the jurisdiction of local law enforcers.

“It is the facilitators who protect organised crime and who allow it to flourish. They are also major beneficiaries of organised crime as they take a significant percentage of the profits,” he said.

“Criminals are not in the business of trafficking narcotics or weapons. They are in the business of making money. Crime is motivated primarily by profit and the only way to permanently reduce the level of crime is to take the profit out of crime,” he added.

MOCA has as part of its logo an octopus, which represents the many tentacles of organised crime with which the security forces have to grapple. The task force has representatives from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Jamaica Defence Force, the Financial Investigations Divisions, the Taxpayer Audit and Assessment Department, among others.

Unlike other task forces, Bunting said MOCA will be very selective in the cases which it targets.

Yesterday, he pleaded to members of the public to assist the task force by reporting corrupt activities to the body.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/MOCA-to-go-after-crime-kingpins–fac…

AS NATIONAL security minister, it’s probably not every day you have fun. But there was no doubt Peter Bunting was over the moon on Friday to be a passenger in an CF-18 Hornet, a jet similar to the one that wowed the crowd at the waterfront on Labour Day.

The occasion was an air show hosted by the Jamaica Defence Force and their Canadian counterparts at the JDF’s Norman Manley International Airport base.

While other guests were getting tours of the actual Hornet that was used in the Labour Day air show, Bunting was getting prepped for his maiden jet flight.

Detachment commander, Lt Col Louis-Henri Remillard of the Royal Canadian Air Force, explained that the minister passed all the necessary medical tests before being fitted with his G-suit. The suit is specially made to pump air into the legs of the passenger and pilot to stop all the blood running into their legs and leaving their heads.

“They would go unconscious and obviously that can’t happen,” he joked. Remillard said that you have to be between about 136 and 230 pounds to fly in the jet. Too small and your body can’t take the force if you have to eject due to emergency; too large and the parachute won’t slow you down when you’re heading for the ground. The minister and the pilot, Major Miguel Bernard, were also equipped with their vests which contained survival equipment including inflatable raft, rations and a first-aid kit.

At about 11:45 a.m., getting the all-clear from the technicians who made sure he was properly harnessed and strapped in and that the jet was in top shape, the Hornet taxied for a few minutes before roaring off, carrying Bunting and Major Bernard for a quick trip around the island. Remillard also confirmed that Bunting would be allowed to manoeuvre the jet.

“The pilot obviously would decide when,” he smiled.

Source: www.jamaica-gleaner.com

TWICKENHAM PARK, St Catherine:

THEIR WHITE tunics glistened under the morning sun as sweat trickled down their stoic faces. And in the sweltering heat the 197 constables sat, listened, watched, and participated in perhaps the biggest day of their lives, so far, on Friday, April 27, at Twickenham Park, St Catherine. It was the 100th batch to pass out of the Jamaica Police Academy since 1981.

Expectedly, pageantry and salutes were the order of the brief ceremony, which was addressed by Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, the keynote speaker, who also doubled as parade reviewing officer. The activities started with a performance by the Magnificent Troopers, with the Jamaica Constabulary Force Band under the baton of DSP Winston Woolcock, assisted by the ISCF Corps of Drums, providing music for the rest of the proceedings. Near to the end, moving and synchronising to music, the 197 constables formed the number 100, symbolic of their batch.

exemplary students recognised

In addition to the basic training certificates, awards were given to exemplary student constables: Cleon Dwyer and Ovell Burton for Best Christian Principles; Erak Newman and Simba Anderson for Best Leadership Qualities; Shimron Walker and Raymond Johnson for Highest Marks Obtained; and Hugh Lewis and Ricardo Smith for Best Shot. A special award was given to Rehum Shand by his father, retiring ACP Derrick Shand.

On hand to witness the occasion and show support were throngs of relatives and friends from all over the country, some turning up after the ceremony was finished. Of note, Constables Shimron Walker and Raymond Johnson, who obtained the highest marks, are from St Mary and attended St Mary High School.

After the formalities, the graduates, comprising eight squads, were taken to an area where the morning’s performance was reviewed and critiqued. Group photography followed, after which they were released to their friends and loved ones, who hugged, kissed, shook hands, and cried. The constables will assume duties today at various stations across the island. The real test has begun.

Source: Jamaica-Gleaner.com

JUST OVER a month after National Security Minister Peter Bunting announced in Parliament that the commissioner of police had been told to ensure that there was a reduction in the number of fatal shootings, the Police High Command is lauding officers for what it claims has been restraint in the face of attacks from criminals.

The High Command said yesterday it had taken note of the fact that in recent weeks, there has been a significant increase in the number of gun attacks by criminal elements on citizens and its members.

“We are very encouraged by the show of restraint that has been demonstrated by our members in recent weeks and we hope that this becomes our way of engagement going forward,” read a statement from the High Command.

The High Command pointed to an incident along Spanish Town Road in St Andrew recently which saw gunmen expending more than 60 rounds of ammunition from high-powered rifles against a police constable. The constable was injured in the incident.

Shot at point-blank range

The police said that in another incident, during an attempt to apprehend members of the Hunk of Gold gang, a policeman was shot at point-blank range. He was saved by his ballistic vest. It also pointed to another incident in Riverton City, St Andrew, on Saturday where policemen responding to a murder came under attack while trying to transport one of the injured persons involved in the incident to hospital.

Though the police did not outline exactly how they had used restraint in these incidents, Bunting, responding to the news, said he, too, was encouraged, adding that this might be the beginning of a culture change.

The minister said, however, that the police must be careful that criminals “don’t take kindness for weakness and become more brazen in attacking policemen”.

He said: “I also understand the balance that the High Command has to be trying to achieve. In a sense, it’s almost like walking between raindrops because we are not yet at the stage where we have eliminated high-powered weapons from criminal gangs out there and, therefore, it is a dangerous policing environment.”

In March, Bunting called for police to make every effort to preserve the lives of suspects and innocent bystanders, even when engaged in shoot-outs.

“We are not putting even the lives of gunmen confronting the police at a lower level. If they can be saved, they should be saved as well.”

New strategies coming

Bunting said the police should engage in the use of deadly force “only if it is unavoidable and necessary to protect innocent lives”.

Police Commissioner Owen Ellington later announced that the police would be adopting several new strategies regarding the use of force which are intended to lessen the number of fatal incidents during operations. He said the new approach is to be incorporated into the police’s standard operating procedures, as well as included in the firearm and tactical training for top-ranked officers.

SOURCE: Jamaica-Gleaner.com

SECURITY Minister Peter Bunting, has assured family members of the four men slain in Rejoin district Wednesday night that the police will not relent until the perpetrators of the attack are brought to justice. He gave the assurance this morning during his tour of the community, accompanied by Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington and members of the top brass of Area one.

The security minister also assured family members that the Area One Chaplaincy will offer special counselling to the traumatised family members.

Meanwhile, Ellington guaranteed residents of Rejoin that a strong police presence will be maintained in the area.

He also promised to give consideration to the training of suitable qualified residents of the community to be district constables.

A father and his son were among the four persons gunned down when gunmen went amok in the community Wednesday night.

The deceased have been identified as 64-year-old caddy Lenford Frazer, his son, 49-year-old hotel worker Delroy Fraser; 64-year-old farmer Kenneth Bernard, and David Harding 41, all of Rejoin, Hanover.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/We-will-bring-Rejoin-murderers…

Minister of National Security Peter Bunting has scoffed at his critics who say he was engaged in more talk than action over the first 100 days of his tenure.

According to Bunting, while he took on the mantle of evangelist of sorts over the period – preaching anti-crime sermons to Jamaicans – the decrease in crime recorded recently is an indicator of his success.

“That is a fact and I don’t apologise that I have been talking a lot,” Bunting told The Sunday Gleaner.

Added Bunting: “I am convinced that this can be done by policing along with buying and winning over the broader society, so I make no apology for meeting with the citizens … .”

Bunting said that the way to proceed is to challenge the subculture of violence.

“Our violence comes not only from gangs and criminal groups; we also have a significant component of domestic violence which would never be prevented by conventional policing alone, we need the entire community to be involved.”

The national security minister conceded readily that life has not been easy over the past three months.

“It’s been a very intense 100 days. January was a very bad month from the perspective of murders; literally from the day I was sworn in, I had to grapple with that.”

challenging period

But for Bunting, there are indications that this most challenging period has passed.

“By the end of the quarter, the results we are seeing is that the murder rate for the period came in significantly lower than the previous quarter,” said Bunting as he noted that March was the month with the lowest number of murders over the past nine years.

“Many strategies were responsible for that,” declared Bunting.

He cited heavy deployment in the St Catherine Northern division (Greater Spanish Town) and the establishment of a task force to combat the lotto scam in St James.

“That was where the majority of murders were taking place and we have seen substantial reduction based on those two initiatives,” the minister said

Bunting also referred to a third initiative. “I believe the anti-gang media campaign that has been running over the last six weeks and, hopefully, the combination of the three initiatives will directly impact on the reduction in murders.

“We have developed a 2012 National Security Policy. There was no equivalent during the JLP administration and we have completed the first stage of that,” Bunting disclosed.

Asserting that his team was in the process of implementing recommendations out of that strategy, Bunting cited the creation of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force.

“That as you know is an agency that is going to tackle the profits of crime and corruption issues and to look at kingpins and facilitators.”

Source: Jamaica-Gleaner.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120415/lead/lead51.html

A shortage of detectives in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has been leading many investigators, on a daily basis, to pick specific cases to give priority attention.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green, who made the admission yesterday, said this was a “tough” call for investigators that could significantly affect the entire law-enforcement process.

In addition, Green, who is in charge of the JCF’s homicide investigation strategy, said the shortage of detectives create “grey areas where some things will get done, but not to a suitable standard”.

Said Green: “Because you can’t do everything, you will do some and ignore others. Even the best detective has to decide on a daily basis what they are going to prioritise and what they are not going to do and that’s a tough decision for law enforcement,” he said.

“That then impacts on many things. It impacts on other cases before the court, it impacts on other investigations and then there are the demands that come in on a daily basis,” he added.

Under JCF policy, the full cadre of detectives should be 15 per cent of its members.

However, statistics provided by Green show that there were 886 detectives in the force up to March this year, just 10 per cent of the 8,814 members at the time.

While he could not provide more up-to-date figures, Green said: “We are not much better than that now … we are still way short of the number of detectives we should have.”

The fall-off in major crimes, which started in June last year and continued this year, has provided some measure of relief for police investigators who have been grappling with an increase in almost every category of serious crimes in recent years.

In an attempt to ease the shortage of detectives, the JCF devised a plan to train at least 200 investigators each year, starting in 2008.

However, except for last year when 213 detectives were trained, Green said the JCF has failed to meet its target.

The statistics provided by Green show that no detectives were trained in the first year of the plan, while 110 were trained in 2009. Since the start of the year, the JCF has trained 102 detectives.

“We are training them to the required standards, but we have not been able to train them in sufficient numbers,” he emphasised.

The assistant commissioner blamed the less-than-expected numbers on poor facilities and the volume of activities at the Police Training Academy in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

“There is a lot of demand for the limited resources (at the academy),” he explained.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com

DURING the month of January 2011, the joint police/military taskforce conducted 619 operations including raids, searches, vehicle check points, curfews and cordons and searches.

Seven hundred persons were detained and processed by detectives from several police divisions across the island. Of these 700 persons, 99 were arrested including 11 persons wanted by the police for various crimes. The other persons arrested are being interviewed.

Eleven illegal guns and 172 rounds of assorted ammunition were seized by members of the taskforce during their various operations in January.

Source: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/

Rev Al on gun charge – Clergyman in trouble for his missing licensed firearm

NEARLY EIGHT months after he was charged with perverting the course of justice and harbouring a fugitive, head of the Fellowship Tabernacle Church, the Reverend Al Miller, is in trouble again with the police.

“This time he has been charged in connection with the disappearance of his licensed firearm,” a senior member of the Criminal Investigation Branch confirmed on Friday.

The officer’s statement was further confirmed by a member of the St Andrew North Police Division, who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner on terms of anonymity.

“He is scheduled to appear before the court this week,” the member of the St Andrew North Police Division told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

While the police remained tight-lipped about the details of the incident, it is alleged that about two weeks ago, in the Shortwood Road area of St Andrew, the well-known pastor parked his vehicle, and on his return, discovered that a pouch with his firearm was missing.

“I was standing just metres away from the vehicle when it happened,” Miller told The Sunday Gleaner. He subsequently reported the theft to the police.

He has been a licensed firearm holder from the early 1990s, he said.

Read full article at jamaica-gleaner.com here

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110206/lead/lead1.html