MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Against the backdrop of an increase in murders in this south-central parish Security Minister Dr Horace Chang has reassured residents that the Government will not allow lottery scamming to take over the usually quiet parish.

Dr Chang, who is also the Member of Parliament for St James North West, said the police have learnt from previous years of lottery scamming influence in western Jamaica, where he claims the illegal activity started. “It has entered into the Mandeville picture in recent years, maybe about five or six years, and now it has developed into quite a business activity. In that kind of activity there is a lot of cash involved, and there tends to be tension between the individuals. This is more severe in the area where it is coming in new,” he said on Thursday in Albion, Manchester. “When they had it established in Montego Bay for some years they had a high number of murder and it has peaked, so to speak, and then settled off but the police built up the requisite intelligence to apprehend most of the players,” added Chang. He reiterated his claim that illicit lucrative scheme originated Montego Bay. “It is known that scamming started in Montego Bay. They have had it well over 30 years, it has almost become a part of the culture,” he said, while pointing to the bloodshed in Montego Bay linked to the scamming scheme. He stressed that while Manchester sees more than 40 murders as a “crisis” he has had to deal with 47 murders in one month in his constituency due to scamming. According to Chang, there is a worrying trend of contract killings among lottery scammers.

“In Manchester they are just moving to get to that space where they can identify the players and monitor them carefully, but what you get happening in these situations is that pretty soon they engage in contract killings and that is far more brutal,” he said. “They will go for a particular target and they kill whoever is nearby,” added Chang. Official figures from the police show 42 murders in Manchester up to October 12, an almost 23 per cent increase over the 34 recorded for the same period last year. The parish has also recorded 36 shootings, nine per cent above last year.

Chang, in the meantime, assured that the police were more advanced in dealing with lottery scamming and the violence associated with it. “It has emerged in Mandeville. We are better prepared for it. The police is better prepared. They have had their experience from elsewhere and they are trained and organised to deal with it,” he said. “I came to Manchester because Manchester has seen an uptick in homicides this year, not a big uptick relatively speaking, but still they are in the 40s which is unusual for Manchester. I came to meet with the police… They seem to be in full grasp of the information in terms of the perpetrators,” added Chang. He toured the Mandeville Market where two weeks ago an attack by gunman at the side entrance of the facility left two people dead and five others injured.

Dr Chang was joined by Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Rhoda Crawford and Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips during his tour. Chang while in the community of Albion, where there was was a double murder on September 3, said small gangs are influencing the uptick in killings in Manchester. “They [police] have identified much of the root cause of the problem, which is some internal conflict in small gangs over money and over things that are of value to gangsters. Plus there are some overseas players as well, but we have had significant success in apprehending the local players,” he said, while pointing out that the police have a clear up rate of 76 per cent for major crimes. “I want to commend the commander DSP Duncan and his team for the work they are doing. This is a challenge for a place like Manchester, which has no history of gun violence,” added Chang, who noted that several businesses in areas such as Albion have been closed. He urged residents, including party promoters, to help themselves by appealing to troubled individuals to not engage in criminal activities. “We have no interest in locking down businesses, but we have to protect lives and it gives us an opportunity to intensify operations and those who are breaking the curfew are the ones who want to escape out of the zone. Literally once you put that in place the rats try to escape. Plus you get more information when the place is quiet. Individuals will talk to the police quietly,” said Chang, as he sought to justify the need for curfews.

“Those who want to have the parties have an idea who the players are. Some of them are friends. A lot of this violence is between people who know each other. I would advise them to stop the violence. There is no value in seeking retaliation, it only increases our activity. The police have no choice, but to take all possible action to protect the community and lives,” added Chang. In commending the Manchester police and high command, he said: “The police have been doing well in apprehending the major perpetrators this year and then indeed to continue that way and I intend to give them all the support required. In fact, I can say we are paying down and developing a C5 centre for the police, which is their central command cybersecurity and communication centre. We are going to acquire more vehicle for them this year and we are going to put in CCTV cameras across the island,” he said. Following the tour of the Mandeville Market, Albion and Knockpatrick Dr Chang met with political and business leaders during a townhall session at Church Teachers’ College.