BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Mugabe Kilimanjaro, councillor for the Ipswich Division, raised eyebrows with the advice he gave new police commander for St Elizabeth, Deputy Superintendent Coleridge Minto, at the monthly meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

Kilimanjaro, who represents the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), told Minto that to make a serious difference in dealing with crime in St Elizabeth he should probe the police personnel he supervises.

“I think, Supe, if you want to get a handle on crime in this parish I think you need to focus primarily on the personnel and the organisation that is directly under your command. That is just my humble opinion,” said Kilimanjaro.

Commenting on a report to the council by Minto, Kilimanjaro observed that there was a seeming emphasis on “criminals” tormenting communities.

However, he argued, while those “maladjusted persons in society obviously need addressing, a critical area you have not addressed is the police itself and its involvement in criminal activity. It is my firm and very considered opinion that there is a criminal network in the police force operating in St Elizabeth.

“That criminal network is integrated in similar criminal networks operating in [neighbouring] Manchester, Clarendon. In my opinion this integrated criminal network operating across these three parishes is being managed from Manchester and Clarendon. In fact, many of the robberies in St Elizabeth, especially on the southern part of the parish, involve bartenders that are not from the parish. It would serve you well to review the officers you have from Manchester and Clarendon — especially those from Clarendon …”

Kilimanjaro conceded that he could not provide proof to back up his theory but pointed to last month’s prisoner escape from the Black River lock-up as an indicator of a serious breakdown in the administration of law and order in St Elizabeth.

“The recent mass jail break … is no small matter,” declared Kilimanjaro.

“That is a well-coordinated, extremely sophisticated operation, and I am at a loss to explain how that situation could have happened. If that situation could have happened in the main police station in the parish on such a scale, can you imagine the other things that might be happening?” he said.

Eight people charged with crimes including murder, robbery, and shooting escaped as a result of the jail break last month. Escapees include Anward Hinds (otherwise called Kirkie) who is charged with the 2015 murder of four farmers in remote Claremont, northern St Elizabeth. Reports are that they escaped by cutting their way through metal bars at the window of their cell.

The jail break led to the reassignment of Minto from Kingston to the St Elizabeth command. He replaced Superintendent Kenneth Chin who had been in St Elizabeth for just under a year. Members of Chin’s administrative team were also transferred. The police high command said the transfers were to better facilitate a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the jail break.