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With scores of de­tainees re­gain­ing their free­dom fol­low­ing the end of the State of Emer­gency (SoE), two for­mer se­nior po­lice of­fi­cials have warned that the coun­try faces an in­creased risk of gang reprisals and re­newed vi­o­lence.

The SoE end­ed last night, trig­ger­ing the re­lease of 117 peo­ple held un­der Pre­ven­tive De­ten­tion Or­ders (PDO). Guardian Me­dia was told that 151 PDOs were ex­e­cut­ed, while 50 were not be­cause the sus­pects had “gone un­der­ground”. Of the 36 peo­ple against whom po­lice have ev­i­dence, 16 have al­ready been charged but are yet to ap­pear be­fore a court, and an­oth­er 20 are ex­pect­ed to be charged now that their de­ten­tion or­ders have been re­voked. The of­fences in­clude firearm-re­lat­ed crimes, gang ac­tiv­i­ty and mo­tor ve­hi­cle lar­ce­ny.

For­mer po­lice com­mis­sion­er Gary Grif­fith said the sit­u­a­tion mir­rors what oc­curred when the SoE end­ed in 2011, when there was a mas­sive re­duc­tion in crime.