Mark Titus, Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Despite the Jamaica Constabulary Force making a significant dent into gang violence in St. James, gangs are still active and growing.

The arrival of the premier anti-crime unit, Operation Kingfish in the island's Second City in 2006 subsequently led to the arrest of members of the reigning 'Stone Crusher' gang, and the shooting deaths of others such Delano 'Bigger Crime' Williams, Rayon 'Troy' Smith, Michael Williams, Kavian Chin, Michael 'Lassie' Forbes, brothers Rohan and Conroy 'Weed Eye' Stennett, and 15-year-old Jermaine Gordon.

"We have had significant success in the west ... and while there is still some (gang-related) activities, what I do know is that the Stone Crusher gang has been significantly impacted," Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Glenroy Hinds, head of Kingfish, tells The Sunday Gleaner.

"I will not say that they have been dismantled, because there is still residual evidence of the gang's activity, but there has been a steady migration from areas in which they used to operate, because of our activity against them," Hinds states.

Junior 'Stone Crushers'

When asked about the existence of junior Stone Crushers, the ACP responded: "Elements of a school population sometimes emulate the activity of the gangs, and sometimes go as far as taking on the name of the gang. Schoolboys would be used to run errands for the gangs, and that is also a medium used to identify potential recruits."

The Sunday Gleaner visited one of the areas that was reportedly a garrison of the Crushers in order to establish the strength of their influence since the slaying of a number of their leaders.

"Crusher is not a gang, it is a community," says Mike, a self-proclaimed area leader, who wants his identity to remain unknown. "Each time the police kill a member, they claim that they kill the don, but the don is always here, because there is always a someone ready to take over."

According to Mike, the communities with whom these gangs are identified remain loyal to them because of the stigma that each resident inherits. "Society make monsters of the residents, and the police are agents of the society, because if I am a student from Norwood, I am labelled a bad student; if I am a job applicant, I will not get the job," Mike argues.

He adds: "If you call for help from the police, as long as it is in a community like this, if they do come, it takes them a very long time. So you will find that neighbourhoods like this has its own justice system."

While a considerable number of the approximately 130 murders in St. James for 2007 is suspected to be gang related, efforts to get the precise figure from the Jamaica Constabulary Force was unsuccessful.