WESTERN BUREAU – The St James police are hoping that the use of more intelligence gathering will assist in reducing crimes in the parish, which have all shown increases up to mid-July, when compared to the same period last year.

The parish’s police chief, Senior Superintendent Paul Ferguson, told the Consultation on Crime forum in Montego Bay on Wednesday that a recently-formed 21-member special team from the Area One Division, led by Superintendent John Morris, has detained 21 suspects who were wanted for various crimes including murder, shooting and robbery.

At the same time, Ferguson said that as part of a long-term measure to fight crime in the parish, a proposal has been made to the police high command to build a police station in Farm Heights to serve some of the troubled areas.

Ferguson said since January, 84 persons have been murdered in the parish in comparison to 48 over the corresponding period last year. He added that 74 shootings were reported up to mid-July, compared to 72 last year. The parish has also had an increase in the number of robberies, moving from 103 last year to 125 up to mid-July.

Ferguson added that 68 cases of rape were reported this year, compared with 55 over the same period last year; 25 cases of carnal abuse this year from 12 last year; 80 break-ins, 17 more than the 63 reported last year, while there have been 88 reported cases of larceny, moving up from 22 last year.

The superintendent noted more of the crimes committed in the parish were in communities just outside Montego Bay – the St James capital.

The Norwood/Glendevon area, he said, accounted for 51 per cent of crimes in the parish, while communities in the Mount Salem area – Rose Heights, Farm Heights and Salt Spring – accounted for 16 per cent; Granville, which comprises the communities of Pitfour and Retirement, nine per cent; the Coral Gardens police area, which also takes in the community of Flankers, five per cent, and Barrett Town also five per cent.

Ferguson said 34 per cent of the crimes committed in St James stemmed from reprisals; 28 per cent from domestic disputes; 14 per cent as a result of gang violence; six per cent robberies; drugs three per cent and 15 per cent unknown.

Noting that most of the murders in the parish were committed by persons travelling on foot, Ferguson said 82 per cent of the victims were killed on the streets; 16 per cent took place in business places and the other two per cent in homes.

Meanwhile, lecturer in criminology at the University of the West Indies, Dr Anthony Harriott, suggested the ranking of Jamaica’s towns and cities in the area of civic activism, which he said would help to measure the levels of participation among the citizens in the control of crime.

Harriott said the problem of crime is so deep in Jamaica that a civic movement is needed to drive the process of crime control.

“Over the years between 65 and 70 per cent of all the murders that occurred in this country took place in Kingston.

We had two Jamaicas – a violent Kingston metropolitan area and a largely peaceful rest of Jamaica,” Harriott pointed out. He said, however, that the situation had changed, as the major cities and urban areas outside of Kingston, especially Montego Bay, were now becoming high- violence areas.

According to university lecturer, if the crime trend in Montego Bay continues, it may not be viable as a tourist destination. “I believe it is as serious as that,” he said.