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The job of First Lady goes to Miss London, lets have a nominations for President. I nominate Maudid.
Cops deny claims of crime spike in Tivoli
Published: Friday | August 13, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Members of the security forces search a house in Denham Town, west Kingston, yesterday. The lawmen said they were in search of hidden guns. - Photos by Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer
Personnel from the Denham Town Police Station and the Caribbean Search Centre dig through a church cemetery in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, yesterday.
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THE WEST Kingston community of Tivoli Gardens is now without its 'President' and its 'First Lady', and, for many residents, adjusting to a new way of life is proving challenging.
The President, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, remains in custody in a United States prison facing charges that could see him spending the rest of his life in jail if convicted.
The First Lady, Stephanie Gayle, is now in police custody being questioned in connection with several crimes.
Gayle, the common-[COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]law[/COLOR][/COLOR] wife of Coke, surrendered to the west Kingston police on Wednesday, hours after she was listed among a number of persons of interest.
Two other [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]west[/COLOR][/COLOR] Kingston residents named by the police on Tuesday, Andrew Emmanuel Brown, otherwise called 'Presi Face', and Horace Hope Lee-Sue, better known as 'Monk' or 'Shoe', also turned themselves in.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green, head of the Major Investigation Task Force, told The Gleaner that Gayle was being quizzed in connection with threats against the security forces.
She was also being grilled in connection with crimes allegedly committed by members of Coke's Presidential Click gang.
Now without the iron fist of Dudus and the influence of Gayle, some residents claim there has been an upsurge in robberies and other crimes.
"A pure robbery and rape a gwaan in the area. Mi a look somewhere to live because me cyaa stay here," one resident of Denham Town told The Gleaner yesterday. "I have had to put burglar bars on the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]windows[/COLOR][/COLOR]
because them attempt to break into my [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]business[/COLOR][/COLOR]," another woman said.
The residents pointed to one closed building which they said had been abandoned by another [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]business[/COLOR][/COLOR] operator after a recent robbery.
But the police in the area are yet to receive reports of many robberies or rapes.
"The data show two robberies in Tivoli Gardens since May and no rapes," Superintendent Terrence Bent, head of the Area Four police, told The Gleaner.
Act to undermine police
Other police personnel on foot patrol in the community agreed with Bent and argued that many robberies were being committed by persons in the area determined to convince residents that life was better under the rule of the President.
"What is happening is that persons want to say that the police can't manage, but we are here and we are determined to patrol this area," a female corporal said as she walked the streets of Tivoli Gardens in the mid-morning sun.
"We have heard the stories of robberies, but no reports have been made to us, so we are out there doing the investigations," head of the Kingston Western police, Deputy Superintendent Arthur Brown, told The Gleaner.
He expressed concern that despite making the allegations to the media, the residents have not made reports to the members of the security forces who are continuing their daily patrol of the community.
Brown led a team in search of two premises in the community yesterday where intelligence suggested illegal firearms were hidden. Up to late yesterday, no illegal weapon had been found in either search.