Police Commish remaining focus despite critics of his stewardship Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson, says he is remaining focused on the job of curtailing the country’s problem of high crime and violence.

Anderson’s comments come amid a recent Don Anderson poll suggesting that more than 90 per cent of Jamaicans have little or no confidence in his stewardship of the country’s crime situation.

“I saw the poll and I know there is a lot of discussions around it and its contents, but I have to remain focus on what we are doing and communicating as I am doing now,” said the commissioner.

He was speaking at the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s monthly press conference on Tuesday, where he revealed worrying statistics for major crimes recorded so far this year.

At the end of August, there was a 2.7 percent increase in major crimes compared to the corresponding period last year.

Murder was up by 6.1 percent or 58 more when compared with the corresponding period last year, Anderson informed.

However, there is a six percent decline in shootings and rapes have decreased by 16 percent. In contrast, robberies are up by 15 percent, and break-ins are up by 7.8 percent.

Though this situation might strengthen the arguments of critics, Anderson argued that the JCF has a number of agencies – both local and foreign – who are partnering with it, “to deal with the many concerns” on the crime front.

“Those concerns include crime, community, and “a mechanism to bring us out of what has plagued us for many years,” he said.

“So when I look at the partnerships and the offers of partnerships and the persons who wish to partner with us… to move things forward, I take note of that, and I think that is important for myself as commissioner and the entire team as we look at our strategies going forward,” Anderson explained.

In further defending his stewardship, he pointed to the reactions he got outside his office.

“I am on the road. I am outside and I am among the people, and I get firsthand feedback from those people, and… it’s the same people who tell you thanks sometimes and push you forward for what you’re doing,” said Anderson in a defensive tone.

He shared that his own members of the force have also created that environment that has been “driving” him forward.

“I am a focused person, and I am focused on what we are trying to get done, and what we will get done, and have been getting done, and I will continue to do that,” Anderson assured.

In relation to the uptick in murders, he said the statistics, at present, does not suggest a closeness to any record for murders in Jamaica.

“The record years are way beyond where we are now, but we are concerned that it (murder) is going up. I am concerned as commissioner and my team is concerned, and the force is concerned, and no doubt the country,” Anderson stated.

He said initiatives, such as expansion of the the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB)’s Quick Response Teams to more parishes and public order campaigns across major towns, will be of high focus towards the end of the year.

“We (will) see that we can… recover some of these murders that we are having, and if we can maintain our focus on what we are doing, and we are focused,” he asserted.

According to him, the police has already began making headway in its pushback against murders.

“We’ve already started actually, because today it (murder) is less than it was at the end of August – not by a lot, by about one per cent further down out of the six (per cent). It (murder) is now at five (per cent year-to-date).

“It will go up and down. It won’t be a steady line down, but we will be pushing down, but really in record years, it (murder) is not even close,” declared Anderson.

Still, he said the police recognises the public concerns about murders and are “always strategising” to address it.

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