Former Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Former commissioner of Police Owen Ellington on Thursday testified that the police took care in the plan of action to apprehend Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, to minimise the risk of loss of life and damage or loss of property.
Community policing in Tivoli Gardens was difficult because of the presence and influence of the gang, and the resistance to the police. He said police often complained about not being able to serve the Tivoli community.
“We felt that we have been hindered” in community policing because of the presence of the gang and the propensity for violence of criminal element when the police attempt to go in there, Ellingto said.
The former police commissioner said other communities are similar, but none matched the level of organised resistance as Tivoli.
Based on history, the police was prepared for resistance in going in to arrest Coke.
He said that his intelligence showed that criminals outside the community, aligned to the Shower Posse, intended to attack the police to divert attention from efforts to apprehend Coke.
He said a conservative estimate of 300 gangs were mobilising to come into Tivoli to assist Coke, and gangs elsewhere, to attack the police and residents.
Ellington said in May 2010, before the arrest, criminals killed 24 residents in Tivoli.
Paul Henry
