WITH his city racked by deadly gang violence and other serious crimes, Spanish Town Mayor Raymoth Notice says he will step down if the central government fails to act decisively to put a lid on the problem.

But Notice has given himself a whole year to determine just how well the government, and the St Catherine police are doing and to make a decision. He called, too, for international help for the police.

“I will resign as mayor in 12 months if the government fails to effectively reduce crime and violence, improve social welfare and improve the livelihood of the inner-city residents,” Notice told the Observer.

He said that he would then allow someone “who can bear the shame and horrors of crime and violence and lack of social services” to become chairman of the St Catherine Parish Council and mayor of Spanish Town – the capital of St Catherine.

At least 16 people have been murdered in Spanish Town and its environs in the past week and Notice conceded to being fed up and disenchanted with the capacity of the police to get things right.

“I don’t want to be associated with failure,” he said. “We have failed too often, especially in our crime fighting and (in the) justice system.

“I won’t accept anybody’s failure,” the Spanish Town mayor added. “I don’t want to be associated with the continued social decay of Spanish Town. I refuse to be associated with it.”

Notice came to office 14 months ago when the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) swept municipal elections which are to take place every three years.

But his tenure has so far been tumultuous, burdened by intra and inter-gang violence and a serious problem of extortion.

First, gangs which declare themselves aligned to Notice’s JLP sought to use the party’s victory in the elections to muscle in on a thriving extortion racket at Spanish Town’s market and taxi stands, displacing the Clansman gang, which supports the ruling People’s National Party (PNP).

Then pro-JLP gang members began fighting among themselves, apparently because some resisted an initiative by recently slain gang leader Oliver “Bubba” Smith to bring them under a single umbrella gang called One Order.

More recently, there has been violence between Clansman and One Order, which began to escalate a month ago after Smith was shot dead in Kingston, escaping from a car that the police said was jointly owned by JLP Central St Catherine MP Olivia “Babsy” Grange and alleged gang member Andrew Hope, alias “Bun Man”. Grange said that she had merely helped a good constituent and party worker raise a bank loan to buy the car.

In the week since Smith’s funeral, there has been greater intensity to the violence. For instance, at least three person were shot dead in Spanish Town between Monday night and early yesterday.

According to Notice, he has lost confidence in the top brass of the Spanish Town police, whose skills he claimed to be poor.

“I say the police have failed us because they are poorly managed (leading to) the loss of public confidence and trust in some officers,” he said. “. It is a known fact that the police are ill-equipped in their intelligence gathering. As a matter of fact, sometimes their intelligence- gathering machinery does not work at all.”

Part of the problem, he argued, that too many police officers were “warehoused” in Spanish Town and needed to be transferred to make way for less complacent cops.

But he suggested that the problem may run deeper than the police officers in charge in Spanish Town and St Catherine.

“After 13 people were murdered in Spanish Town over the weekend (an) assistant commissioner of police went on a talkshow and said everything was under control, as if he was comfortable with the performance of the police,” Notice complained.

“Nothing was put in place to prevent the murder of three more Monday night. Making public claim that everything was under control is giving a pseudo-intelligent report that can be proven wrong,” the mayor added.

Notice also attacked the central government for failing to keep promises to the St Catherine local government, including assistance for infrastructure and social services.

He gave as an example an announcement four months ago by junior transport and works minister Fenton Ferguson that traffic lights would be installed at certain intersections in Spanish Town.

The job, he said, should have been done in two weeks, but up to now nothing has happened and he has heard nothing about the plans.