KINGSTON, Jamaica — Security expert Jason McKay, CEO of McKay Security Limited, said gangland murders should be quantified and a distinction made whenever the crime figures are being reported.

Speaking at a long-service award ceremony held at his headquarters on Lancaster Road in St Andrew at the weekend, McKay pointed to a Jamaica Observer article in which Acting Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant noted that 65 per cent of 1,350 murders committed last year were attributed to “gang activities”.

“There could be a distinction whereby gangland murders — gangsters killing each other — be reported as such and quantified among the country’s murder statistics. When it is reported every day that 1,350 persons were murdered last year, without making that important distinction, it only serves to terrify the nation and gives the impression  that the average law-abiding citizen or visitor to Jamaica is at a very high risk of being killed — which is not true if you are uninvolved in gang activities,” he said.

“The majority of murders in Jamaica last year, as ACP Grant pointed out, were committed by killers killing killers. If that was so, risk to the average person would not be as high as that of a gang member or persons affiliated to gangs, one way or another. The press could start making that distinction more often and not just repeat the blanket figure, which could be interpreted to mean 1,350 persons were innocently murdered last year,” he told the audience.

McKay, principal of McKay Security & Investigative Services Ltd, drew parallel to the United States.

“Everywhere else in the world where there is a high murder rate, take Chicago for example, that important distinction of gangland killings is always at the forefront. Based on my preliminary studies, this was not a year in which threat to the average citizen was greater than any other, it was a year in which Klansmen were at war with each other, west Kingston gangs were at each other and lotto-scamming gangs were at war with each other in western Jamaica. If we break down these figures every time, maybe, just maybe, it may serve as a motivation for people to stay away from gangs, gangsters and places they frequent as well,” he added.

Brian Bonitto