Less than 48 hours after three persons were killed and six injured in a gun attack on an in-house football match at the Jamaica Broilers playing field in Spring Village, Old Harbour, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) has challenged the Government and the security forces to urgently establish short-term strategies for “a credible and sustained effort” to neutralise the violent gangs causing mayhem and bloodshed across the island.

In a statement, the PSOJ noted that, on September 7, it had called for the nation’s political leaders to get behind closed doors and arrive at consensus on the short-term crime strategies which were to be captured in the Enhanced Security Measures Act to urgently contain the violent crimes and murders being committed by gangs on the citizens of Jamaica.

“We have not seen any Vale Royal Talks nor has the public been advised of any ‘behind closed doors
conversations’ to take us towards consensus,” the PSOJ noted and it declared that the Government and security forces must be proactive and lead the way in serving and protecting the country’s people.

According to the PSOJ, many the island’s citizens, from all walks of life, are now “living in a state of fear and anxiety as they face unrelenting, atrocious criminal acts”.

The organisation further noted that while Major General Antony Anderson, the commissioner of police, has indicated that 71 per cent of the country’s more than 1,000 murders were committed by gangs, members of those gangs continue to “walk our streets with confidence, knowing that the long arm of the law has not been able to have them face the consequences of their rampant, cold-blooded criminality”.

The PSOJ added: “We see the ‘collateral damage’ of that 71 per cent of murders with mothers, children, young men, hardworking citizens, members of a community enjoying themselves at a football match, being slaughtered. Jamaicans are losing hope and it certainly appears that under our current legal construct and, or with the resources that are available to be deployed that we don’t have the capacity to mount a sustained onslaught on these gangs that will reverse the trajectory of murders and mayhem.”

The PSOJ, noting that the medium to long-term pillars of Plan Secure Jamaica are being executed under the oversight of the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee (CMOC), acknowledged that investments in technology, capacity, and infrastructure continue to be made in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and that socio-economic programmes are being executed with more to come.

“Reforms of the justice and correctional institutions continue. Pieces of legislation such as The Firearms
Act, The Bail Act and The Unexplained Wealth Act are in the pipeline,” the organisation added.

“All this effort will give our security forces more tools to combat crime in the medium to long term. However, we must deal with the immediate crisis.”

The PSOJ said it has been patient and constructive in supporting the country’s leaders, but that the situation is now becoming untenable and “is taking a serious psychological and physical toll on us all as we live with the constant fear from the overt and senseless violence which often claims lives and destroys families”.

The organisation said: “We are therefore calling on the Government and our leaders of the JCF and JDF to engage our people and put forward and execute sound and effective short-term violence strategies within our legal construct to mount a credible and sustained effort to neutralise these gangs, to reduce the wanton and horrific loss of lives. This would go a long way in restoring confidence and providing some comfort and hope in us all.

The PSOJ is currently working with multiple stakeholders and continues to stand ready to engage the
political directorate and law enforcement in possible short term, feasible solutions that will consist of a
multi-sector effort that is deemed acceptable by both parties.”