THE security forces have established a new special team to target the gangsters believed to be behind the majority of the almost 700 murders recorded across the island since the start of this year.

Writing in the latest edition of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Orders, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson said the police and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) have established what he dubbed a Special Purpose Task Force to target gangsters.

According to Anderson, the task force has been formed through a partnership between the JCF’s Specialised Operations Unit and the Combat Support Battalion of the JDF.

It has been designed to combat criminal gangs, organisations and groups in Jamaica.

“The vision of Specialised Operations is to be a high-quality, operational response formation by utilising superior intelligence gathering, investigation and tactical skills to solve all high-risk public safety and public order issues within communities,” said Anderson.

“The mission of Specialised Operations is to deploy level 2-4 tactical policing assets to support the crime reduction effort of the JCF by targeting individuals and gangs that commit murders, shootings, robberies and other violent crimes,” added Anderson.

He said the intent is to dismantle and disrupt the most violent gangs in Jamaica by careful study and investigation of their organisation, facilitators, ethos and financing, and to identify leadership and other key actors for law enforcement applications.

“Gangs have been significant drivers of violence — especially murders, shootings, robberies and rape — over the last 40 years. Specialised Operations has identified the island’s most violent gangs and will utilise the application of law enforcement tactics aimed at dismantling and, at the very least, disrupting the said criminal organisations,” said Anderson.

He noted that the new task force will operate on a “round the clock basis and will leverage a spectrum of capabilities, creating a multiplier effect in targeted spaces [and] thus restricting the freedom of movement and action of criminals”.

“The task force will coordinate resources to positively impact areas currently being affected by an increase in crime as a result of gang activities. The efforts of the task force will be boosted consistently with the support of intelligence and investigation teams, as well as divisional resources.

“The Jamaica Constabulary Force welcomes the opportunity to strengthen the historical relationship with the Jamaica Defence Force and, in particular, the Combat Support Battalion on this most important endeavour,” declared Anderson.

The police commissioner’s announcement of the new anti-gang task force comes days after Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang made his presentation to the 2020-2021 Sectoral Debate.

At that time Chang made no mention of the new unit, although he indicated that more efforts would be made to disrupt the criminal gangs.

“The JCF reports that all major crimes are down, including murders. The security experts report that the states of public emergency have been successful in as much as they have added to the plethora of other counter-gang, anti-crime and public order measures that the Jamaica Constabulary Force have been implementing. The SOEs (states of emergency) do not replace these other necessary security measures – they add to them,” declared Chang.

“Maintaining public order and social stability, enforcing the law, disrupting gangs and apprehending heavily armed perpetrators are not optional for our police officers,” added Chang.

The security minister also told the Parliament that, “we must intercept the drugs and the guns; and we must dismantle and downgrade the criminal gangs. A safer, more secure Jamaica has been and continues to be a priority for this Government”.