Hanover Police Credit Operations for Taming Four Gangs and Cutting Major Crime

WESTERN BUREAU: Police in Hanover say sustained enforcement over the past two years has broken the grip of four criminal groups that once fuelled serious violence across the parish, leaving the area far quieter than in recent years.

Speaking at a Neighborhood Watch gathering at the Hopewell Police Station on Wednesday, Deputy Superintendent of Police Dean Watson, who leads operational activity in the Hanover Police Division, assured residents that conditions have improved markedly.

"Across the parish, we are currently experiencing a 25 per cent reduction in major crimes, and we hope to continue in this vein," Watson said, while stressing that domestic violence still poses a serious threat. "I am happy to say that gang activities across the parish is almost non-existent. The murders that we are seeing this year are mostly domestic cases," he said.

Once widely regarded as Jamaica's safest parish, Hanover saw a sharp rise in violent offending in recent years with the rise of the Ants Nest Gang, the One Link Gang, the One Voice Gang, and the Hundred Rounds Gang. Those groups became tied to lottery scamming, killings, and fierce disputes over territory and criminal proceeds.

Law enforcement responded with a series of targeted initiatives and large-scale operations aimed at slowing the spread of organised violence. Officials point to the downward trend over the last two years, with 2026 continuing on the same path, as evidence that those efforts are working.

Watson said Hanover logged 76 murders in 2023, a figure that fell to 24 in 2025. The division's target for this year is to hold the count under 20.

"That is a far drop from 76, and we believe we can achieve those numbers," Watson said. "Gangs, at our latest assessment, they are non-existent. We are seeing where a lot of those persons, who we identified as gangsters, have gone to other jurisdictions, many of them across the borders, and are probably operating elsewhere."

He added that the gangs' current inactivity reflects sustained pressure on members, including through the division's ongoing Operation Cutting Edge, which is designed to keep criminals on the back foot.

"We are seeing some great returns from this initiative," he noted. "We are optimistic that the numbers in violent crimes in Hanover will continue to decrease in the months ahead."

Watson also highlighted strong working relationships between officers and residents who had grown weary of persistent insecurity.

"The parish got fed up, and persons said no more because we all realised that when you look at the contributors of violence, it is normally the same repeat offenders," he said. "Our aim is to make our community safe and take back our communities one by one, ultimately taking back Jamaica."