MONTEGO BAY, St James – He’s faced with the same problems that beset his predecessors, namely a lack of infrastructure such as roads and lights in the crime hotbeds of Norwood, Glendevon and Salt Spring.

However, since assuming the job as the St James divisional commander on March 6, Superintendent Steve McGregor has moved swiftly to wrest authority from the armed gangsters who had transformed St James into a killing field.

In more than 20 operations spearheaded by McGregor, over 13 persons have been arrested and one .45 Magnum handgun, he said, has been taken from a man the cops killed in an alleged shoot-out.

“We are continuing to work to see how best we can cause the St James Division not to be where it was last year,” McGregor told the Sunday Observer. “The challenges are there, the geographic outlay, squatters, but the fact that we have so much people offering to help is so refreshing.”

McGregor’s reference was to the signal of support he has received from the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry since he arrived in the tourist resort city.

“It’s really refreshing, because normally we would have to wait on our high command,” he told the Sunday Observer after last week’s monthly meeting of the chamber.

McGregor said he would compile a short list of areas in which the business community can help the police.

“In coming to Montego Bay people were telling me that it is like a closed society, they don’t welcome outside people,” he said. “But I am getting a different impression, which I am really happy for. A lot of persons have offered to help and they want to see a difference, which is good. A lot of people are fed up with the situation which obtains. They want it to change, so I am encouraged and I will continue to put my best foot forward to deal with the situation.”

McGregor, who was transferred from St Thomas, was one of 36 senior cops reassigned by the police commissioner as part of his strategy to bring crime under control, especially in St James where a lottery scam has been blamed for several murders.

The St James Police Division recorded 178 homicides last year. Since January this year, 38 murders have been recorded on the police blotters.

Chamber president Pauline Reid pledged the business community’s continued backing of the police in their battle against crime.

“The business sector pledges to continue to give the police our full support. We will discuss with him (McGregor) whatever the private sector can provide him with,” said Reid.

“We have also pledged to organise committee meetings between the private sector, the chamber, the affected communities and the police to see how we can foster a better relationship with the affected areas and the police,” she added.