Police Commissioner Gary Griffith has announced measures to be taken to peg back the spike in homicides in the last 36 hours, which includes the calling out of all officers who are off-duty.
In a statement on Monday, the commissioner said the measures will include:
• Detention of suspects in shooting incidents for questioning;
• Every available police officer will be out on the streets conducting static and foot patrols;
• All Emergency Response Patrol Vehicles will be on patrols;
• Officers who are currently on days off, have been called out to duty;
• Officers have been called upon to perform additional hours of work;
• Roadblocks and stop and searches;
• Joint Police and Army patrols; and
• Other intelligence-driven initiatives.
The homicide rate has spiked with 8 homicides in the past 36-48 hours.
There have been a recorded 280 homicides for 2019 thus far when compared to 302 for 2018.