MONTEGO BAY, St James

Senior Superintendent of Police Marlon Nesbeth, who took command of the St James Police Division on Monday, is under no illusion that the problem of the escalating murders in the parish will come to an abrupt end under his watch.

The St James Police Division continues to lead the other police divisions in the murder tally, recording 104 since the start of the year, 21 more than the 83 for the corresponding period last year.

“…No this won’t happen overnight; it’s not like waving a magic wand and everything falls into place,” SSP Nesbeth told the

Jamaica Observer West during an exclusive interview earlier this week.

He added: “It [arresting spike in murders] requires hard work, it requires team work, it requires a collaboration of efforts from the stakeholders, whether it be the business entities, social components and agencies that exist such as the clergy, the schools, the communities, the media. It requires a very all-inclusive effort to ensure that we achieve the objectives that I am sure that we have in common.”

But the new commander, who took over the reins of the division from the flamboyant Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor, is acutely mindful that the expectations for him to succeed are extremely high.

“First of all I know there are issues existing; the statistics would speak to that. I know there are expectations from all stakeholders to ensure that we have some control of this crime issue. So mine is the task of getting some effective policing in place to the extent that we can start to see some positive changes,” the newly transferred commander of the St James Police Division argued.

Meanwhile, SSP McGregor who has spent many of his over 34 years of service in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as a commander, is hoping that the police hierarchy will give his successor a more extended run — than the just over one year he was allowed in the parish during his second stint.

In fact, McGregor just stopped short of expressing that he needed a little more time to see his initiatives bearing fruit.

“I implore the powers that be that they should give the new commander a longer period than they gave me, or else he’s not going to impact the thing in any fulsome way. You cannot change the situation of St James in one year. But I am not in any way daunted by this reassignment. I am 110 per cent in support of the High Command because they know best,” remarked SSP McGregor, who has been transferred to the Territorial Operations Portfolio of the JCF.

Nesbeth, a 32-year veteran of the JCF, in the meantime noted that he will be continuing with some of the programmes established by his predecessor — whom he described as his long-time friend — and tweak others.

“I must tell you I appreciate a lot of the initiatives Mr McGregor, my predecessor, would have put in place. He is a very astute police officer who knows his job. He is my friend; I have worked with him. I would have taken over from him elsewhere and seen what he is capable of. So, I know whatever he would have implemented, I just need to essentially follow through on some of those initiatives and fine tune where I need to; get the stakeholders’ buy-in and I am sure we will see some dividends as we progress,” he argued.

Both officers were speaking to the

Observer West during a reception and farewell cocktail party hosted by Montego Bay businessman Lachu Ramchandani and Dr Ruddy Khani, general manager of the Wexford Hotel, at the property on Monday.

Other guests at the function included Custos of St James Ewan Corrodus and Assistant Commissioner of Police Warren Clarke, who took over command of the Police’s Area One from ACP Winchroy Budhoo, as well as other members of the Montego Bay business community.