Police launch anti-extortion campaign
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The police on Monday launched an anti-extortion campaign to stem the growing scourge, which the cops say is seriously affecting normal life across the island.
According to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Tanisha Ellison, extortion has now become a threat to everyone, whether you’re managing a construction site, a business place, or operating a motor vehicle.
“It is not that we have just started to pay attention to extortion, we have now … developed on our existing strategy,” ASP Ellison told OBSERVER ONLINE Monday.
“Today marks police high visibility and anti-extortion awareness day and the intention is to educate citizens as to what extortion is, how it can be reported, how it can be investigated and just how persons can play their part in the whole process of investigating and trying to minimise its occurrence in our country,” said ASP Ellison, who is assigned to the police’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU).
The first phase of the campaign, rolled out Monday, saw the distribution of flyers in major commercial centres across the Corporate Area, as well as in other police divisions across the country.
“We are at phase one, which is focused on winning public trust and ensuring that people understand the whole concept, and what we want to achieve at the end of the day,” said ASP Ellison.
She added that phase two of the campaign will reflect a more long term effort, as crime fighters ensure that existing community-based platforms such as neighbourhood watches and police youth clubs are properly sensitized, “allowing the initiative to become a more permanent part of the fabric of the society”.
The campaign will be assessed after three months, in order to inform the way forward for the Constabulary, ASP Ellison said.
However, ASP Ellison cautioned that regardless of strategies implemented by the police, it would take a collaborative approach to see real changes.
She implored members of the public to use whatever means most convenient to them to report acts of extortion, which is defined as the crime of obtaining money, property, services, information, or any item demanded from a person or entity, through force or threat.
Anyone wishing to report acts of extortion can contact the Anti-extortion hotline at 579-5940, Crime Stop at 311 or police emergency at 119, or email antiextortionunit@jcf.gov.jm.
