JCF concerned about rise in mob killings

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey is appealing to members of the public not to take matters into their hands when confronting suspected wrongdoers.

Speaking at a virtual press conference hosted by the Jamaica Constabulary Force yesterday, Bailey said the police have seen an increase in mob killings in recent times. He made references to cases involving suspected praedial thieves.

"Whilst we understand that citizens can become frustrated especially when cattle are stolen ... we want to appeal to the citizens not to take the law in their own hands. We have had instances in the past where innocent persons who were not actually involved in any act of dishonesty, but they were just in a space at the wrong time," Bailey said.

"This is adding to the amount of murder. For the past week we have had at least three of those instances. So again we want to appeal to the public to demonstrate some tolerance and allow the law enforcement agencies to deal with those issues," he continued.

Speaking to THE STAR, Lenworth Fulton, president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, expressed his concern that the current strategies to tackle praedial larceny are futile.

"Well I think the Government which controls the police and the law enforcement officers need to do something about it, because it's really a police matter. It is terrible and I am not in support of mob killing and all of that, but I am fully supportive of the fact that we as farmers cannot continue to lose our animals and crops to thieves. So it's obvious that what we are doing with praedial larceny [is] not working, so we need another approach," Fulton said.

In his 2023 Sectorial Presentation, then agriculture minister Perneal Charles Jr announced measures to address praedial larceny through a five-prong approach, which would include the employment of agricultural wardens and better equipping police stations in the rural areas.

But a weary Fulton said "We are suffering from praedial larceny in every single area of agriculture, and now they have turned their attention to stealing things like irrigation hose and all of that. We just can't continue like this."