THE constabulary’s crime chief, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields has vowed to clamp down on the country’s crime bosses, and in fact said data was being gathered on just under a dozen “key criminal figures”.

“Under Kingfish, we have eight to 10 key organised crime figures and it is our intention that we will arrest them in due course. We will gather the evidence, we will watch and we will wait,” the crime chief told Tuesday’s inaugural open house for the Jamaica Yellow Pages.

Shields referred to the conviction earlier this month of Donald ‘Zeeks’ Phipps, the former stongman of the volatile Matthews Lane community in downtown Kingston. Phipps, who was found guilty of two cases on non-capital murders, will be sentenced next month.

“This (Phipps’ conviction) isn’t going to be the last. There will be many others to follow, but I’m not going to tell you when. They will find out when. They know that we’re going to do a thorough job, and that they will be arrested and brought before the courts. So if you’re involved in shooting, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking and other crimes, we will come after you,” Shields said.

In the meantime, Shields commended the witnesses who came forward to give evidence against Phipps.

“We couldn’t do it without the witnesses. if people aren’t prepared to come forward and give evidence then people like Phipps will stay on the streets. They will continue to terrorise communities,” said the crime chief.

“Those people did the right thing. And if people do the right thing and they come forward, they should be witnesses and they will be protected. We will give every single assurance that we can that people will be protected as much as possible,” added Shields.

Meanwhile, Shields put to rest rumours he would have left his job and returned to the United Kingdom if Phipps had not been convicted. He later told the Observer that he was totally committed to his job and had no intention of leaving prematurely.

The deputy commissioner, in the meanwhile, said social intervention programmes were underway for the Matthews Lane community.

“We’ve got some great plans for Matthews Lane and that would include a computer centre, a basketball court and I think they are going to improve things significantly down there,” Shields told the Observer.

Shields lauded the Jamaica Yellow Pages (JYP) for their work with PALS Jamaica. JYP has committed funds to sponsor all of PALS’ major fund-raising events over the next three years.

– davisv@jamaicaobserver.com