THE PROMISE of a new day dawns in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, with today’s scheduled opening of a police post in the community that has been devoid of consistent police presence for most of its existence.
In an ironic twist of fate, the police post is being set up in the Presidential Click office – the headquarters of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, the community kingpin-turned-fugitive.
Coke fled the community over which he ruled with an iron fist after the police attempted to arrest him last week. The police incursion led to a gunfight between gunmen loyal to Coke and members of the security forces. Seventy-three civilians and one soldier were killed during the fighting.
As the community crawls back to normality, there are indications that the opening of the police post will be a turning point in the west Kingston operation. National Security Minister Dwight Nelson signalled late yesterday that the police would be directed to turn their attention to other crime-riddled areas.
“Now that the police post is established in Tivoli Gardens, it is time to move on to other areas in Kingston and St Andrew where criminals continue to torment decent law-abiding citizens,” Nelson said.
Nelson said communities in east Kingston, east central St Andrew, south central St Andrew, south St Andrew and north St Andrew were areas of prime concern. “There is also need to address criminality in areas of St James, St Catherine and Clarendon. We must begin to address them now,” the minister asserted.
The National Security Minister told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Monday that a police post would be established in all troubled areas that are targeted.
Final touches
As commanders kept a close watch over Coke’s old office yesterday, the police and soldiers were seen busily putting the final touches to the post late yesterday.
A senior police officer told The Gleaner that the police post would open its door during the first shift of the police and soldiers monitoring the community, which has been under curfew since earlier in the week.
Even as they worked to prepare the post, the police urged residents who had mobile phones confiscated during last week’s operation , to retrieve them from the Denham Town Police Station.
The Gleaner was told that more than 200 cellular phones belonging to residents were in the possession of the police.
They were reportedly seized because of security concerns.
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