Drugs and Turf Wars to Blame for Crime Spike?

Conchshell Bay is a fairly small area within the Alberts, divided by the canal at the Fish Market. Since the beginning of the year, there have been repeated acts of violence in the area; there have since been two murders and several shootings. While the Regional Commander of Eastern Division South, along with several officers, was in attendance at the meet and greet today, Area Representative Tracy Panton usurped the responsibility and told the media that investigations have since indicated that the increase crime is as a result of a drug war.

Tracy Panton

Tracy Panton, Minister of State, Trade & Investment

“I wish we could get into the minds of those who decide to commit the crime and we could be on top of their every timing and their every move; that’s not possible. We also have to have people to come forward in terms of sharing information with the police so that we can get down to the bottom of it. You hear a lot in the community in terms of your own information intelligence gathering but you can’t act on that unfortunately. And so the best we can do is to increase the surveillance, increase the presence and also to do whatever intervention work is necessary with the young men who are involved in this—I call it a turf war—the turf war to understand why we’ve had an escalation.”

Reporter

“As far as you understand it, what is at the root of this violence, this particular spike?”

Tracy Panton

“It’s hard to say. I will narrow it down to being a turf war. I am sure that to some degree there is some drug activity involved; I would suggest that and that’s what I’ve heard.”

Reporter

“Is it for the controlling of who sells marijuana in….who controls the sale of marijuana in this area?”

Tracy Panton

“I don’t know that level of detail. But I would say that it appears to be from the information that I have, that drugs is involved in this current situation.”