News

"We have criminals among us" - Commish

By OMAR ANDERSON, STAR Writer

Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas. - file

POLICE COMMISSIONER LUCIUS Thomas declared yesterday that police officers have consistently supplied criminals with bullets and other vital police operational information.

According to the commissioner, some of these same bullets have been used to kill some members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

"We have criminals among us. It doesn't stop at the rank of inspector, it goes all the way up," he said. The commissioner's statement was made during yesterday's 62nd annual conference of the Police Federation at Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay.

During a one-hour talk with police officers from the rank of constables to inspectors, the police commissioner said the force was undergoing testing times.

"Can you imagine a police officer giving some men he knows in the underworld a box of 15 9mm rounds of ammunition?" declared Commissioner Thomas.

Commissioner Thomas pulled no punches and even pointed to police officers being involved in the drug trade. "Do you know that some of our police officers use the government marked vehicles, take the drugs and escort it to where it must go?" the police commissioner asked.