PERMANENT secretary in the Ministry of Justice Carol Palmer has told justices of the peace (JPs) in St James to give up their instruments of office if they are afraid to refuse validating persons they do not know.

Palmer, who is also chairman of the Trafficking in Persons task force, charged JPs to guard against signing documents for people whose intentions may be to commit crime including trafficking in persons.

“You verify and validate documents, you validate identities and so I urge you to be vigilant,” Palmer told a commissioning ceremony for 35 new JPs for the parish of St James, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre last week.

“Do not unwittingly assist anyone who is going to perpetrate this (trafficking in persons) or any crime. And I am saying to you, if you are afraid, return your commission to the Custos before you go. And I am very serious about it,” she said.

“If you are not prepared to say ‘I do not know you, I cannot do this for you’, return the instruments of office. So when persons come to you to validate documents, be observant. Notice anything that raises a question in your mind. Does an individual seem to be exercising unusual inappropriate control over the other person? And make sure you can be sure that the documents you sign are in fact for the person you signed them for,” Palmer added.

The recent commissioning brings the number of JPs in St James to 576.

Overall, there are 5934 JPs in Jamaica , including 1262 who were commissioned over the past two years.