One issue raised inconclusively at last night's meeting was Operation Jaguar. We say inconclusively because panelists weren't quite sure which side to come down on. Many feared that the operation was bring down an iron fist upon the city's Southside, but so far there have only been 10 raids on houses. Assitant Commissioner of Police Elodio Aragon is leading the charge and he says the deployment has been based on intelligence and targeted for results.
ACP Elodio Aragon - In Charge Operation Jaguar
"So far we have had numerous foot patrols and vehicle patrols in the Southside. We have just started on Monday, we stopped and searched a number of persons. We also searched a number of houses. These houses that were searched were based on intelligence that we received. Our success will depend on largely on the amount of incidents reported in this area. At the end of the day we will look at the statistics and that should give us an idea of what we are doing right and what we are not doing. From there we could adjust and improve on what we are doing. Presently we have a company of about 70-80 BDF officers along with 30 police officers and officers from the Coast Guard. We are looking roughly about 100 plus persons on this operation. There are more BDF than police officers, what has happened is that we have put the additional BDF officers that we have on the streets. We have sworn them in as special constables. They have all the powers of arrest as police officers. We have deployed in specific areas to assist. We have put the Police and BDF officers in strategic areas that we know are areas of concern to us. "
Lt. Col David Jones, BDF
"We are using the soldiers to support the police in the areas where murders have been committed quite frequently, where a lot of robberies and jackings have occured. We are trying to reduce the crime rate in the City at the moment. We are going to sustain this operation we don't want to specify when its going to stop. This should provide some level of comfort to them. The soldiers are here to support the police. They've got their rules and regulation in regards to opening fire towards any civilians. The soldiers are going to be professional at all times. "
To add to what Aragon said, there have been about 200 stops and searches, about 60 vehicles were also stopped and searched. There have been 6 arrests and only Small seizures of drugs and no seizures of firearms. Roughly 100 persons from the BDF, Police and Coast Guard are deployed. Police will try and sustain the operation until there is a reduction in crime.
