(Jamaica Gleaner) The high command of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is getting more worried about the number of policemen and women hiring out their services to criminals.

Acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington revealed the JCF’s concerns on Thursday, less than 24 hours after two members of the force were taken into custody for their suspected role in a daylight gangland shoot-out in Hayes, Clarendon, involving members of the feared Clansman and Boston criminal posses.

In that incident, an occupant of one of the vehicles died and two handguns were seized.

“I am deeply concerned about what appears to be an escalation in the activities or participation of members of the JCF in criminal gangs as well as consorting with known criminals,” Ellington said during a media briefing at the Office of the Police Commissioner in St Andrew.

“I am issuing a warning to all policemen and policewomen to stop associating themselves with criminals or criminal gangs,” Ellington declared.

“I want to state categorically that as long as I am in charge, I will use every lawful means at my disposal to find those individuals and to get rid of them from the JCF on the grounds that they have lost my confidence and they have lost the moral authority to continue serving the public,” he added.

Ellington further warned policemen and women that if they were suspected of having ties to criminal gangs or consorting with criminal elements, they will be punished.

“We in the Police High Command will make no distinction between police personnel involved in criminal activities and civilians involved in criminal activities,” the acting commissioner stated.

He said the police would be relentless in going after criminal gangs blamed for most major crimes across the island.

Colleagues at risk

“When policemen carry on their wrongdoing, they put the lives of their colleagues at risk and the lives of their families and friends also at risk,” warned Ellington.

Ten members of the police force have been killed this year.

That number includes 36-year-old Constable Steve Brown who was shot in Clarendon on Monday as he drove a man who had gone to court to answer charges, including illegal possession of a firearm. Brown was not on duty at the time of the incident, but has not been accused of any criminal act.