Roundup: Gang crime spikes in Jamaica, new police measures on the way

Facing a spike in gang activities since early this year, Jamaica's security authorities have admitted the limited effect of previous police efforts and announced a series of new measures.

Jamaica has seen an upsurge in murder cases during the past ten months, mostly attributed to a rise in gang-related crimes, Jamaican Police Commissioner Carl Williams said Tuesday.

A total of 1,038 murder cases were recorded across the island by the end of October, with a 22 percent year-on-year increase, according to the police chief.

Williams said the escalating gang activities, especially feuds between and within gangs, have resulted in the increase of murder cases, revealing that 793, or 76 percent, of the murders were caused by gang-related incidents.

It has been estimated that there are 266 criminal gangs operating on the island, almost half of which are actively committing murders and contributing to the current crime increase.

With a population of some 3 million, Jamaica has been a high crime-rate country since the 1970s, whose homicide rate was listed as the world's sixth highest by the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime last year.

A combination of factors including poverty, retribution, drugs, gangs and politics resulted in the high crime rate throughout the island, according to the recently-released Jamaica 2015 Crime and Safety Report by the U.S. State Department.

Most criminal activities are "Jamaican to Jamaican" violence, often involving organized criminal elements and gangs, the report said.

Efforts have been made by the Jamaican government to fight against crime, particularly gang-related ones, while the result has turned out to be far from satisfactory.

Last year, the country's parliament approved the Criminal Justice Bill, or popularly called "anti-gang" legislation, aiming to "make provision for the disruption and suppression of criminal organizations."

Early this year, the Jamaica Constabulary Force adopted a new police strategy, featuring the establishment of the Guns-for-Drugs Task Force for disarming these criminal gangs and pushing the security conditions back to order, in a bid to enforce the anti-gang legislation and combat criminal gangs.

"These measures have had varying degrees of success for limited periods but none have resulted in the sustained reduction in the levels of crime and violence, especially murder," Jamaican Minister of National Security Peter Bunting said Monday.

"Over the years this disease of crime and violence has become deeply rooted in the fabric of our society and has been nurtured by the breakdown in important social institutions like the family," he said.

The Rule of Law Working Group, a new security oversight body, will be established to assist the government in its fight against crime and violence, he added.

The group, which consists of members drawn from the Partnership for Jamaica including representatives of major organizations and interest groups in the society, was believed to be able to give citizens a greater voice and influence in this national fight.

Bunting urged every citizen across the country to "move from concern to action," which he deemed as "the only way to break the back of crime in Jamaica once and for all."

The security minister also mentioned that a new unit in the Jamaica Defense Force, called the Protected Mobility Vehicle Squadron, will be deployed later this week, which would help the police address gang crimes "more quickly and with less injury and loss of life." Endi