Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas (second right) at a press conference at the Police Officers' Club in St. Andrew, yesterday. With him (from left) are Raymond Wilson, chairman of the Police Federation, Novelette Grant, Assistant Commissioner of Police, and Jevene Bent, Deputy Commissioner of Police. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
LEADERS OF state and civil society yesterday expressed condolences as well as support for the island's security forces following the brutal killing of three lawmen and two private security guards between Tuesday night and early yesterday morning.
In an uncompromising voice, Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, warned criminals that "there will be no safe haven for them in Jamaica and the security forces have been mandated to track them down and put them away."
THE CRITICAL STAGE
The National Security Minister further stated in a press statement that the slayings "are symptoms of the critical stage reached in the effort to flush out and put behind bars criminal gangs and their leaders."
Dr. Phillips also noted that the killings come on the heels of a co-ordinated and sustained programme at various levels of the security forces to target and apprehend criminal gangs and their leaders.
In reacting to the killings, Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke said prayer was the most potent tool Jamaica had to combat this scourge of crime and violence that has the nation in a stranglehold.
"It is clear that we have to use different instruments and tools to sort ourselves out. People are not afraid of guns, they are not afraid of what we have put out there to fight them, but we have a mighty force that I believe, if we use it effectively, can do more than the other instruments in place now," said Sir Howard while proclaiming May 15 as a National Day of Prayer yesterday.
Derrick Smith, Opposition spokesman on national security, also denounced the "callous and inhumane" killings as well as offered his condolences to the bereaved. Additionally, he pledged the support of the Jamaica Labour Party to the efforts of the police. "The JLP has no reason or intention to be involved in any form of aggression aimed at derailing the efforts of the security forces in dismantling criminal gangs and apprehending their members," he said.
Members of corporate Jamaica also joined in condemning the nine-hour slaughter across Kingston and St. Andrew. In a stern release, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) expressed its "repugnance regarding the violent occurrences" and insisted that all the stops be pulled out to ensure that the villains face the full fury of the law. "(We) ... insist that all available resources be utilised in bringing the perpetrators of these brazen acts to justice," said the JCC.
Human rights watchdog, Jamaican For Justice, lambasted the actions of the criminal elements. The human rights advocate group labelled the onslaught as "a new low point in our history". Bishop Herro Blair, chairman of the Peace Management Initiative (PMI), labelled the killings as gruesome, declaring that the incidents have "brought dark clouds upon our nation."
