Operation ACT Moves into Majestic-Jungle Area
Tensions are high in the Majestic Alley-Jungle area. A spate of shootings and murders associated with the gangs in those areas has led to an increased hostility. Now, Police say that they are actively working in that area albeit a challenge due to high tensions. According to Chester Williams, Operations ACT has expanded from region one to region two as a result of the gun violence in this area. Today, Williams told us that as a part of ongoing policing in the area, surveillance cameras will be installed to keep an eye on these hot spots.
Chester Williams, Deputy Commissioner (Operations)
“We have observed over the past couple of weeks that majority of the shootings were occurring in region two and we can no longer continue to see region two operating on its own. So, now we have now dovetailed their operations into ours with some strength in it to ensure that we are able to provide the same level of services to region two that we have been providing to region one.”
Andrea Polanco
“Is there anything on going right now with the Majestic Alley area which seems to be a little bit hot – through Jungle and those areas? Any intervention going on – any mediation?”
Chester Williams
“We have been doing interventions and mediations with the Majestic Alley and the Jungle crowd but I will tell you that right now tensions have been really high. The fact that there have been recent death within the area have allowed those who would be able to make the peace process more easily, they are not really cooperating at this time. It is not something that we will be giving up on. We will continue to work with them and I am sure that we will be able to broker something between them to be able to have the two areas not to be in conflict with each other. What are also doing currently, hopefully by the end of this week, we will have surveillance a camera installed in majestic alley and one in jungle. So, we will be able to monitor the activities of those persons in those respective areas by way of the surveillance cameras. We have also put in place additional patrols in both areas and we have put a buffer between groups to prevent either group from going over to the other group’s area, all with a view to try and prevent the spate of shootings from occurring within those areas. We are also partnering with the churches. We’ve met with the Council of Churches and we have agreed in principle that one of the things that we will be doing is that the churches will be going with us in those respective areas and will be holding spirituality sessions in the respective communities. It’s with a view to see how we could help from a spiritual point of view.”