DCP Jacob aims to halt targeting of prison officers

ACTING Commissioner of Police (CoP) McDonald Jacob
ACTING Commissioner of Police (CoP) McDonald Jacob

DCP Mc Donald Jacob on Wednesday told Newsday he expected action taken by the police would curtail any further targeting of prison officers for execution by criminal gangs, when asked by Newsday how the police were tackling recent acts of criminality.

On Monday, the nation was shocked by video footage of a gunman brutally killing prison officer Nigel Jones, 38, in the heart of Siparia, even as he held hands with his four-year-old daughter whom he had just collected from pre-school. They were awaiting a taxi to go home together.

After seeing her father shot dead in a split-second, the shocked child bolted off frantically in a blind panic near the busy road before being taken in hand by a kindly bystander.

The next day, president of the Prison Officers' Association Cerron Richards claimed that prisoners housed in the Wayne Jackson Building (Building 13) of the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca, had issued death-threats to other prison officers. Jones and his colleague Trevor Serette – who was shot and killed last Friday – were both assigned to Building 13.

On Wednesday, Jacob told Newsday, "The main thing we would talk about now is the situation dealing with the prison officers and that is where we are conducting our investigations in relation to it.

"We are in a position where we believe we have stymied any further incidents in relation to it, so that is where we are at this point."

Asked about the issuance of firearm user licences (FULs), Jacob said a commissioner of police (CoP) or acting commissioner must first be appointed to then go forward to deal with such issuances.

Newsday asked if an audit just ordered into the issuance of FULs might also hold back the issuance of new gun licenses. He replied that the key issue was the non-appointment of a CoP.

Jacob added, however, that the terms of reference for the audit had not yet been completed.

He told Newsday he had not seen a report by retired judge Stanley John on the matter.

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"DCP Jacob aims to halt targeting of prison officers"

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