MONTEGO BAY, St James — Peter Bunting, the opposition spokesman on National Security is hoping that consensus on how to halt the runaway crime rate in St James will be reached at today’s staging of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) consultations scheduled for the Wexford Hotel in this resort city.

” We are hoping that we can identify some best practices that can help (St James). We are hoping that we will be able to get some insights from the panelists and the participants and feed back on what really needs to be done,” Bunting told the Observer West.

Since the start of the year, more than 110 people have been murdered in St James, with a high percentage of the homicides committed in the inner-city communities of Norwood, Glendevon and Salt Spring.

President of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, Wayne Cummings, Pastor Knollis King, Convener, Rose Heights Covenant of Peace; commanding officer in charge of St James, superintendent Merrick Watson and Alan Bernard, director at the Flanker Peace & Justice Centre are also listed amongst the panelists for the consultation which is being held under the theme “A Secure St James…The Way Forward.”

PNP leader Portia Simpson Miller is also expected to attend the meeting.

The consultation was originally scheduled for last Thursday at the Montego Bay Civic Centre but was postponed after Chairman of the St James Parish Council, Charles Sinclair refused to give let the party use it in the grounds that the event was political.

Bunting told the Observer West on Tuesday that today’s consultation is timely because St James is one of the most challenging parishes, as far as security is concerned.

” It poses particular challenges for policing because of how the squatter communities are developed,” he noted.

“The road access makes it difficult to police and at the same time, the areas are very sensitive because the whole economy there is built around tourism.”