Maloney locked down

Residents of the Maloney Housing Development yesterday woke up to sight of over 60 heavily armed police and soldiers surrounding their community as part of a joint anti-crime exercise aimed at flushing out criminal elements and to seek out illicit arms, ammunition and drugs.

At the crack of dawn the large contingent of police and army officers descended upon the Maloney Housing Development ordering residents to open their doors as some officers accompanied by sniffer dogs searched apartments and homes as part of the exercise.

While some persons welcomed the presence of the officers others were displeased claiming that Maloney was no longer a crime hot spot and that there were only a few undesirables living within the community.

Despite their protestation officers continued their almost five-hour operation searching not only homes but vehicles and areas outside apartments, some using metal detectors in a bid to search for illegal arms and ammunition concealed under the ground. School children appeared to be most affected by the exercise because the presence of the officers disrupted the normal activities of parents getting children prepared for school.

However, head of the Northern Division Senior Superintendent Mc Donald Jacob, along with other senior officers including Superintendent Nelson, Inspector Birch and others explained to residents that it was part of the commitment by the TT Police Service to reclaim the country from the hands of criminal elements and return the Northern Division to being a Division with one of the lowest statistics relating to crime.

Northern Division accounts for more than 98.1 percent of the overall murders in this country, and the percentage increased over the past two weeks with the two triple murders in the La Horquetta district.

Within recent times Task Force officers from the Northern Division were mandated to carry out surveillance at the Maloney Housing Development following a murder in that area.

Newsday understands that Acting Police Commissioner, Stephen Williams who has decided to seek a personal interest in the Northern Division due to the high incidence of murders instructed that the joint police/ army patrol be carried out yesterday.