BOUNTY HALL, Trelawny — The police have issued a stern warning that they will relentlessly pursue top-tier members of a gang that has fled Trelawny but continues to give orders to their cronies to carry out criminal activity within the parish.

At the same time, the police say they are ramping up efforts to keep youngsters out of the grips of these gangs.

Commander of the Trelawny Police Division Superintendent Winston Milton, who disclosed that last year the police dismantled four of the five gangs they pursued in the parish, vowed to go after the other criminal outfit, the Black Five gang, which has its base in Clark’s Town.

“Last year we managed to suppress the activities of criminal gangs within our space… We are going on an all-out effort as we treat with this particular gang — because gangs and gangsters have no place within the Trelawny parish,” Milton warned at a combined Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) church service at Bounty Hall New Testament Church of God on Sunday.

“As we continue our joint effort with the military against this particular gang we are aware that they have been displaced, particularly the top-tier membership of the gang. However, they are still of concern to us. Why? Because they are staying outside of the parish and influencing particularly violent crimes within the parish,” he added.

Milton warned the gangsters that they will not be able to escape the long arm of the law.

“I say to them, as I say to you our citizenry, our very important clientèle: ‘We will not be restricted by boundaries, so because you are out of Trelawny doesn’t mean that we won’t pursue you. We will relentlessly pursue you, wherever you are, as long as you continue to influence violence within our space,’” the senior cop vowed.

That push is being complemented by a parallel effort to keep students out of gangs. The plan is to have the police show youngsters that they have options.

“We have embarked upon a rather novel idea. We are looking at starting a police youth club within a secondary school. We want to put ‘policeism’ within schools rather than ‘gangsterism’, so that youngsters can know the value of resolving [conflicts] and obtaining their goals and aspirations through a solid education or skills, and resolving their differences through dialogue rather than through violence,” Milton said.

He said the police are currently keeping a close watch on six secondary schools in the parish where there are signs of trouble brewing.

He revealed that the Trelawny Police Division, which ended 2024 with 24 murders — one less than the previous year — has been given a target by the high command of the JCF to get murders to under 10 this year.

“The strategic target of the police high command is to achieve no more than 1,000 murders islandwide for the entire year. Trelawny, as one of the 19 geographic divisions in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, we have been set a target. However, my Assistant Commissioner [of Police Glenford Miller, head of the Area One Police Division] said, ‘Milton no, you have to go below that.’ So the revised target is changed for us. We can’t go above 10,” he said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if we are to achieve our ambitious goal it will see us attaining no more than 0.83 murders per month. Last year you would have noticed we had a total of 24 incidents in the parish. That is two per month. You see how ambitious the target is?” he asked.

Milton said the police in Trelawny, working in tandem with stakeholders such as the army, church, and political representatives, are determined to achieve the target.

“We know that we are capable of doing it but we must strengthen our partnership. The partnership that we had last year, we have to build on that. The community groupings that we had last year, we have to improve on those,” said the senior cop.