Minister of National Security Dr Peter Phillips declared the shooting of three policemen in Salt Spring, St James a dastardly assault on law enforcement by criminal elements and urged the Constabulary Force to hunt them down.

At the same time, Member of Parliament for West Central St James, Clive Mullings described the shooting as a brazen and cold-blooded attack on law and order.

Phillips in a statement yesterday evening expressed outrage and condemned the attack on the policemen, saying that this incident should strengthen the resolve of all law-abiding persons to take the fight to the criminals.

The security minister assured the police they had his “unreserved backing in hunting down and bringing to book the perpetrators of this brutal act”.

He urged policemen and women, and family members of the injured men to take heart and remain strong in the face of such adversities and criminal aggression.

For his part, Mullings said the shooting of three police officers in a marked police vehicle was “a brazen and cold-blooded attack on law and order”.

Mullings said that the three injured officers miraculously escaped death, and he reiterated a call by two fellow Jamaica Labour Party St James MPs – Horace Chang and Edmund Bartlett – for the revamping of present crime control strategies in an effort to track down criminals .

Mullings said the crime problem had ballooned out of control and the time for paying lip service to its resolution had long gone. He added that the statistics indicated that Montego Bay was experiencing more than a crime wave which must be arrested by decisive action.