MONTEGO BAY, St James – Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas has praised the Sandals hotel chain for its outreach programme in the tough Flankers community, arguing that the initiative served as an inspiration for inner-city youths.

“I must commend the Sandals hotel chain for its outreach programme, in one of the communities which has always been of concern to the police. This is the type of positive interaction necessary between big business and residents in depressed communities, to encourage them, to give them a sense of belonging and involvement, and uplift their lives,” Commissioner Thomas said.

Thomas, in a message read by assistant commissioner of police for the Area One Division, Clifford Blake, at the annual awards banquet of the St James Chapter of the Lay Magistrate’s Association of Jamaica here over the weekend, welcomed the programme which was started by Sandals Montego Bay following a major demonstration sparked by the fatal shooting of two senior citizens by the police.

The programme, dubbed START (Sandals Training and Recruitment Tier), started with 25 youths receiving training in housekeeping, watersports, maintenance, and food and beverage, and has since gained official accreditation from the HEART Trust/National Training Agency.

Meanwhile, the police commissioner, who reported a minor dip in murders in the parish this year, had concerns about the sharp increase in other major crimes across the St James Police Division, in comparison to last year.

He said 122 homicides were recorded in the parish up until October 3 this year, in comparison to 127 over the same period last year. There were 178 murders in the parish throughout 2006.

However, he said “the number of shootings for this year stood at 133, a 33 per cent increase over the figure of 100 for the same period last year.”

He said, too, that there was a significant climb in the number of robberies, which moved from 112 reported cases in 2006 to 162 cases so far this year.

“Break-ins have also shot upwards; we have seen a 66 per cent increase, representing 105 cases of break-ins this year, as against 56 such instances of this felony in the relevant period last year,” Commissioner Thomas said in the text read by Blake.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Thomas said that the Fraud Squad’s report for the period January to August 2007 showed that there were 345 cases of fraudulent conversion, amounting to almost $17 million. No figure for the comparative period last year was given.