MAY PEN, Clarendon – The Clarendon police believe they have made a major dent in a gang that has been making life hell for residents of York Town and surrounding areas.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Clifton Green, who is in charge of crime management in the division, one of the leaders of the gang was killed in a recent shoot-out with the police. He said the deceased had been one of the main crime producers in the parish.

“I am sure the residents of York Town and its environs are breathing a sigh of relief because of the mayhem which this hoodlum caused within the parish and elsewhere. Coupled with that, we have managed to degrade that particular criminal group [to] which this young man was attached and seemed to be one of the top-tier persons. We continue to work on other criminal groupings that continue to challenge us in this division,” the DSP said.”

He was speaking at last Thursday’s meeting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation.

He also reported that there was a year-on-year reduction in major crimes. “

“We saw an increase in murders; however, we have managed to clear 57 per cent of those murders. That is significant, given the numbers for the previous years. The efforts can be seen in the management of those particular crimes. We have seen mild increases in shootings and rapes but what we must be thankful for is there is a reduction in aggravated assaults,” the senior cop noted.

“In 2023, 388 murders were recorded as opposed to 426 for 2022; that is significant,” he added.

Impressed with the clear-up rate, Councillor Hershell Brown (Jamaica Labour Party, Chapelton Division) asked if details of those cases could be as widely publicised as murders committed. “

DSP Green explained that while relatives of crime victims are usually provided with updates, such information is usually “not publicised based on the nature of what we do”.

He added: “We also have persons who require privacy and we have to respect those. We liaise with other community officials and NGOs but it’s not always very loud because of certain issues.”

DSP Green has vowed that he and his team will be even more effective in 2024.

“You would have seen, within the first three days of this year, the seizure of seven illegal weapons from the streets of this parish. We continue those efforts to take these weapons off the streets and bring these persons before the courts,” he said.