Western Bureau: The latest anti-street vending initiative in Montego Bay appears to be reaping little success as vendors are once again plying their wares in the streets and contributing significantly to the traffic congestion in that city.

Over the past few months, the streets have been relatively vendor-free, but in the past week the persistent merchants have slowly started creeping back onto the streets. Over this period, the Observer team saw several vendors with wares openly displayed along sections of St James Street. Also, it was evident that traffic was being impeded as pedestrians are forced to walk in the road because the sidewalks are occupied with the vendors’ wares.

However, despite this observation, the authorities insist that the latest initiative to rid the streets of vendors was making inroads, even if there was not enough police personnel to properly monitor the streets.

“You will not see policemen all the time because we do not have enough to put everywhere all the time. The vendors will come out when they don’t see the police and they will run away when they see us. In a way it is a cat and mouse situation,” superintendent in charge of the St James police, Owen Ellington told the Observer. He added that despite this seemingly never-ending game, the police had experienced some measure of success in curbing street vending, and the crimes linked to the activity.

“It has helped in the reduction of street crimes such as robberies and drug peddling because no longer can the criminals use the cover of illegal vending to perpetrate their crimes. It has also resulted in the reduction of congestion on the streets because it has enabled the freer movement of traffic,” he said. “It has improved the general sanitation on the streets… It provides the police with greater opportunities for patrolling and there is greater visibility over longer distances to cover a wider area in the town…”

And the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as the St James Street Merchants’ Association have both commended the police’s performance in the initiative. But they conceded that there needs to be an increase in the number of police personnel in the area since the initiative has been extended to include streets other than St James Street.

“We are very pleased with it, and we congratulate the parish council and the police on the job done to date,” Chamber president, Mark Kerr-Jarrett, said. “(But) the police, due to their lack of manpower in Montego Bay, cannot permanently assign JCF personnel to the anti-vending squad on St James Street. And a lot of our crimes in Montego Bay is due to the lack of police personnel because we need police presence to act as a deterrent to would-be law breakers.”

He added: “If there is indiscipline in the society and street vending is starting to take place again it is because of a lack of police presence because the commissioner has not assigned sufficient personnel for the necessary patrolling routines within the city and its environs. We need more personnel, we need more cars, we need more motor bikes.”

President of the St James Street Merchants Association, Anthony Pierson, shared Kerr-Jarrett’s views.

“The system is under extreme pressure because of the influx of people from all over trying to ply their wares to get whatever little back to school business there is. Before, the anti-vending team could concentrate on St James Street alone,” Pierson said.

“Now, their responsibilities are much wider and greater and they probably just need more personnel to deal with it,” he continued. “They are skipping from one area to another without being able to properly service any one area. But they are keeping their presence as best as possible.”

But Superintendent Ellington charged that while he recognised the need for increased personnel, it was not a gap that will be filled in the near future.

“There is a need for an increase in numbers policing the town generally. We have requested additional people, but given our overall manpower situation, I do not expect that we will get any. The force generally is experiencing a shortage of personnel,” he said. He added that despite the shortage, he was not receptive to the idea of reinventing special constables to serve in the anti-street vending initiative.

“We must be able to deploy people and feel confident that they will be available to us all the time. Therefore, I am very wary of any offer of help unless it is coming through the police department,” he said.

Adding: “I want policemen and women because it is police duties that we are talking about. Therefore, we have to make good with what we have…”