Yesterday evening we showed you George Street residents who were outraged after police rounded up key figures from the area including Shelton "Pinky" Tillet and his brother Gerald "Shiny" Tillet. The complaint from residents was that police stormed into their yards and homes with no questions asked - just guns on the ready. That was also the complaint this morning from another area of town after police picked up James Young and Kenneth "Big Tom" Flowers - key figures from the 'Back A Town' crew. This is all as a consequence of Saturday morning's murder of Alpheus Smith, a George Street soldier who had been accused of trying to kill 'Back A Town' boss James Young.
The number two man at Eastern Division Chester Williams says the police stormed George Street when they did and as they did because they got information that retaliation from that area was imminent. He says the key figures from George Street and Back-A-Town are detained so that a truce can be negotiated before it gets any uglier.
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams, Deputy Commander - Eastern Division
"Yesterday we received an information that something was about to happen in the George Street Area. As a result of which we deployed a team of police officers within that area to go and conduct operations. Upon the police officers' arrival there they encountered hostility and they managed to overcome the hostility and brought the situation under control and as a result some key players from George Street were brought into custody and they are presently being detained in police custody."
Keith Swift,
How many people were rounded up?
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams,
"I cannot say more or less a figure but Shelton Tillet is among those persons. We have his brother Gerald Tillet and some other persons, key figures from within that area."
Keith Swift,
Will any of these men be charged?
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams,
"At this time we are still conducting investigations. We have received numerous complaints of threats from both groups, both the Back-a-Town group
and George Street group, each other sending threats to the other party and as a result of that we have in custody likewise James Young. We also have in custody Kenneth Flowers, 'Big Thom,' and we also have Brian Brown in custody. We have all these persons as part of an operation that we conducted this morning. That operation is consisting of police and elements of the BDF."
Keith Swift,
So it is not only people from George Street you've detained?
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams,
"No, we're not only holding up George Street. We have an investigation ongoing. We are still looking at other persons whose name have been called as a part of the murder investigation and some of those players are in custody. We are investigating around them to see if at the end of the day we could come up with any sort of evidence to be able to lay charges against either of them as a result of the murder that occurred on Saturday morning.
We are not leaving any information without being looked at or without being examined through its entirety and at the end of the day what we want is to try and bring these people together and have a talk with them. We intend to utilize not only police officers to communicate to them but also members of the community, from the public and private sector to come in with us and sit down and dialogue with these people. What we want to achieve at the end of the day is an amicable solution between both groups in connection with the problem that is ongoing between them."
Keith Swift,
The people are telling me that they know you are doing your job but the way the officers come about it is wrong, the approach is wrong. What do you say to that?
Sr. Supt. Chester Williams,
"I wouldn't say that the police is going about it the wrong way. We as police officers, we need to protect ourselves and I am certain if you go to Iraq, you will not go to Iraq unarmed because you anticipate some thing will occur when you get there. So the police officers go into these areas and if they encounter any sort of hostility, it is the police officers' duty to ensure that they react adequately and in so doing if it takes firing two warning shots to try and slow than an individual, then that will be done."
