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Displaying a seized AK-47 rifle at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson made the point that local criminals are well-equipped with "weapons of war", but said that strategies and intelligence-gathering capabilities being utilised by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are bearing fruit, as seen in the seizure of 88 guns in January - the most over one month for a long time.The commissioner also insisted that cops will not relent in their efforts to seize more guns, and said their strategies, coupled with soon-to-be-implemented amendments to the Firearms Act and the Bail Act, should produce much more results.The 88 guns seized last month include 13 rifles and 59 pistols."Thirteen rifles is the most we have seized in the month of January since before 2011. We have also seized 59 pistols, which amount to an overall 17 per cent increase in firearm seizures," he told journalists."This is what an AK-47 looks like," General Anderson said, his hands covered by what appeared to be industry standard blue nitrile gloves as he showed the weapon."This is one of the weapons of choice of the gunmen that create mayhem, pain, and death in our society. It has a 600-rounds-per minute rate of fire. You can get it with a 30-, 50- or a 100-round magazine. This weapon, depending on its condition, goes for anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million, and this weapon and M16s and pistols are what we have been seizing. [Recently], we seized six rifles, two shotguns, and two pistols in a very small geographic space," General Anderson said."This [AK-47] is a weapon of war. This is not the normal weapon that a robber in another country would use... This is what is in our communities, and this is what our people are facing. This and other illegal firearms are what create a situation in Jamaica where, for over 25 years, we have crossed the threshold for 1,000 murders, and it has persisted. This is what we are taking off the roads; and, make no mistake, more are still out there," Anderson said, adding that it was important to show the public what the police are confronted with on the job."This is a symbol of it - an AK-47. The illegal firearms they carry are very often used to create fear, even when they aren't killing people. It is the main source of intimidation. An example is Travis Gilman, who was convicted in 2021 of 11 counts of murder and illegal possession of firearm. He was sentenced to 210 years," the commissioner said.Gilman was a member of the Bloods gang in Clarendon who pleaded guilty to a raft of serious criminal offences, including murders, committed between 2017 and 2021."These gunmen and gangs are quite often part of sophisticated criminal networks that have transnational connection and require us to use our manpower, intelligence, technology, and our partnerships and operational strategies to confront what is essentially a criminal organisation whose purpose is to profit from the misery of our society," General Anderson said.He said that, up to Tuesday, Jamaica had a six per cent decline in murders, a 20 per cent decline in shootings, a 14 per cent reduction in robberies, a 67 per cent reduction in rape, and an 11 per cent decline in break-ins since the start of the year."That is an overall reduction of 19 per cent of all major crimes. This is a reflection of the work that the JCF has been doing, particularly in terms of bringing together the resources, personnel, equipment, and technology within plans and strategies and working with partners."Our strategies are focused on guns and the removal of guns from the hands of murderers. The members of the JCF have been extending themselves without break since last year because we had an increase in murders. Murders are 72 per cent gang-related and 19 per cent interpersonal. About five to seven per cent came as a result of some other criminal activity," he said."We spend a lot of resources and a lot of effort is placed on actually stopping killers from killing each other and their families and associates, and we must continue that, but we also have a range of responsibilities to the people of Jamaica. I want people to understand the context [in which] the JCF and the Jamaica Defence Force operate - death, mayhem, and pain."Arguing that the work of the police must be aligned to that of prosecutors and the sentencing regime, the commissioner said that there is currently a 40 per cent rate of recidivism, which means that, of the roughly 1,000 people released from prison each year, approximately 500 reoffend in a two-year period."I assure Jamaicans that our part of the system is being worked effectively, and we are using a range of operational and crime strategies to get the results," he said.