CRIME in six of nine volatile east Kingston communities began to decline following the implementation of a ‘Ninety-Day Crime Reduction Action Plan’, the police have said.

“The action plan came out of a need to stem the ongoing high levels of incidences of shootings and murder, as well as all other major crime in the eastern Kingston police division,” said Superintendent Assan Thompson in charge of the eastern Kingston police division.

“A major part of the strategy is to work with the citizens and to build a collective effort in the fight against crime and violence,” said Thompson.

For the period March 1 to June 1, only 19 murders were reported, he said, compared to 50 in the corresponding period for 2005 – a 62 per cent drop.

The police have identified seven hot spots for crime in the division, saying three are ‘extremely active’ – Dunkirk, Brown’s Town and Franklyn Town.

The other four – Rae Town, Mountain View, Rockfort and Rollington Town – are considered ‘tense’, the police said.

Thompson said the smashing of a major car stealing ring whose network stretched as far as the western parish of St James, and the arrest of five key players from the ring – including persons from the Inland Revenue Department – was one of the high points of the plan.

“… We shattered the hopes of many criminals with one real blow,” he said.

Thompson’s division also seized vehicles valued at $8 million.

Speaking at a press briefing Tuesday, the division’s top cop said that homicides committed in the division were declining, stressing that only three police districts have recorded increase in the murder rate since the implementation of the plan, namely Vineyard Town, Rockfort and Bull Bay.

“The increase in murders in communities like Rockfort is as a result of a conflict between gangs from Top and Bottom Rockfort that would have been further affected by the death of Marvin Reanu, who was killed April 6,” Thompson said.

Reanu’s death sparked a series of reprisals that, according to Thompson, have negatively influenced the crime statistics in that police district.

Other trouble areas like Mountain View and Franklyn Town have seen a decline in murders under the plan.

“All performance indicators listed in the action plan continue to show positive indications, further suggesting that the plan continues to achieve its objective,” said Thompson.

The division has rolled over the plan for another 90-days, June 2 to August 2, at the end of which: “We will do another evaluation of its success or lack thereof,” Thompson said.

paulc@jamaicaobserver.com