Cops using ‘focused deterrence’ to get murders under 1,000
Published:Thursday | January 16, 2025 | 12:12 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
An expelled former member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is reportedly among the latest persons to be fatally shot during alleged confrontations with the police. Up to yesterday, civilians killed by lawmen totalled 12 since the start of the year.
The former soldier has been identified as Alex ‘Resident’ Madden of a Samacan and Kenton Avenue address in Kingston.
He was also listed among 12 individuals named last week by investigators in the St Andrew South Police Division as persons of interest in connection with crimes in the division.
Investigators allege that Madden had strong ties to the infamous 440 Drive Gang.
The Gleaner understands that the alleged confrontation occurred Tuesday night in Bridgeport, Portmore, in St Catherine.
Reports are that during an intelligence-driven operation about 9 p.m., Madden was accosted and allegedly challenged the police with a firearm.
The police reportedly took evasive action and fired at Madden, who was hit. He was taken to the Spanish Town Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A HiPoint 9mm Luger pistol, along with a magazine containing six 9mm rounds, was reportedly taken from Madden.
Madden was reportedly linked to three murders and one shooting committed in the St Andrew South Police Division since November 2024.
He was also wanted for questioning in connection with an attempted murder and shooting incident.
The Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM) is probing the shooting that left Madden dead.
INDECOM has been kept busy probing other incidents of police fatal shootings, including another incident early yesterday morning along Jarrett Lane in east Kingston.
Dead is Paul ‘Pablo’ Cassanova, an alleged enforcer from Bayshore Park, Kingston 17.
Targeted operation
It was reported that about 4:50 a.m., the police conducted a targeted operation at 72 Mountain View Avenue in search of Cassanova, who was wanted for questioning in connection with a bloody turf war in the Bayshore Park community.
The police said that, as a result of the turf war, Cassanova had fled the Bayshore Park community to Mountain View, where he had been planning and launching attacks against his rivals.
A day earlier, on Tuesday, the police shot and killed 28-year-old Akeem Chance in Rollington Town.
Reports are that, about 5 a.m., during an operation, Chance, who investigators say was involved in a mass killing in Rockfort on October 21 last year, was shot dead during an alleged confrontation at his home on Montague Street.
A 9mm pistol and five rounds were reportedly seized in that shooting.
The police said both INDECOM and the Inspectorate and Professional Standards Oversight Bureau are investigating.
In 2024, one hundred and eighty-three persons were shot and killed by the security forces, of whom 15 were fatally shot in December.
Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang said the police would be increasing targeted operations this year in an effort to dismantle criminal gangs.
Chang said the security forces are actively tracking more than 150 unresolved conflicts and in excess of 300 individuals across the country.
“We have adopted a highly systematic approach to disrupting criminal gangs and targeting high-risk criminals. This approach involves closely monitoring ongoing conflicts and maintaining detailed records of individuals engaged in criminal activities in order to build strong, robust case files for prosecution,” he said.
“For instance, of the first set of high-risk targets identified under this strategy of ‘Focused Deterrence’, two-thirds are now before the courts, about 20 per cent have fled the country, and the others engaged the police in armed confrontations and met their demise.”
The Government, he said, has been working alongside the security forces as they focus on deterrence, which is designed to reduce crime even before criminal apprehension takes place.
Chang also noted that 1,141 murders were recorded last year, a reduction of more than 260 murders, or 19 per cent, when compared to 2023.
While the police force has publicly stated that it intends to bring murders under 1,000, Jamaica commenced 2025 on a bloody start, recording 34 murders in 11 days, according to the latest serious crime statistics published Sunday by the JCF.
This represents a 31 per cent increase in murders or eight more, year on year.
After the first 11 days in 2024, the country recorded 26 murders.
For the first four days of January, the country recorded five murders, but in the first full week, January 5-11, twenty-nine murders were recorded.
This has since prompted the JCF to impose 48-hour curfews in the entire divisions of Kingston Western, Kingston Eastern, St Andrew Central, St Andrew South, and St Catherine South.
The latest crime data shows that 14 of the 19 police divisions have recorded at least one murder since the start of the year.