Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
EQUIPPED WITH a fleet of new vehicles and additional manpower, the street smart, tough-talking Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cornwall 'Bigga' Ford, has been tasked to search and find the criminals involved in the spate of abductions and rapes across the island.
"Once we get the intelligence, we are coming for you. We will be using all the available resources," warns DSP Ford, who currently heads the downtown Kingston-based Flying Squad Unit.
"The people will be seeing me in the streets, on the highways and in the lanes. Once we get the information about these guys, we are going after them," says the veteran crime fighter.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bruce Golding is calling on citizens to remain calm. He is reassuring the country that the security forces have stepped up their vigilance and investigations into reports of abduction of children from a number of schools around the island.
In an emergency meeting with ministers of government , the high command of the Jamaica Consta-bulary Force , the Jamaica Defence Force and other stakeholders at Jamaica House yesterday the Prime Minister was assured that ongoing investigations by the police to date has revealed that there is a significant gap between the reality and the perception of abductions.
Ford says he has already begun to tap into the network of criminals involved in sex crimes. According to the DSP, police intelligence suggests the criminals are targeting Corporate Area communities such as Mona, Hughenden, Ravina, Meadowbrook, Havendale and Hope Pastures.
On Thursday night, a woman was abducted from the Ravina community of St Andrew. Also on Thursday night, the police confirmed reports that three females, age 20, 16 and eight, were abducted from a popular fast food store off Barbican Road in Liguanea, St Andrew. The older females were raped and robbed and later released.
More than 676 women have been raped since January. The figure for the corresponding period last year was 587. However, abductions are on the decrease, with 57 cases reported so far this year compared to a total of 125 cases last year.
A week ago, two women and a man were abducted and taken to August Town, St Andrew, where the women were raped. There have been reports of several attempts to abduct students at the University of the West Indies.
Getting tremendous help
"We are getting tremendous help from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF); as we request their assistance, they are there. Plus the Island Special Constabulary Force will be chipping in with additional resources," Ford discloses.
Meanwhile, National Security Minister Colonel Trevor MacMillan says that strict measures are being put in place to counteract the effect of these "nightmarish acts, some of which cannot be disclosed as it could have a compromising effect on the investigations and operations being undertaken by our law enforcement officers."
While the females are being raped, police records have shown that a significant number of motor vehicles have been stolen, some of which were taken from the victims of sex crimes.
glenroy.sinclair@gleanerjm.com.
The underline of the lead story of The Sunday Gleaner, dated November 9, which stated ‘‘Bigga’ Ford heads task force to nab rapists, criminals’, may have inaccurately given the impression that a new unit had been created in the Jamaica Constabulary Force for that purpose. This is not the case, as was clear from the body of the story.