St James split
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Minority Leader in the St James Parish Council, Senator Charles Sinclair, has welcomed the announcement by Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams that St James will be divided into two police divisions as part of efforts to curtail criminal activities in the parish that has accounted for over 200 murders since the start of the year.
“I think we are on the same page in that regard. And I wish it will be subsequently implemented as it will bring about better management of the parish, and it will lead to a reduction of criminal activities,” Senator Sinclair said yesterday.
Senator Sinclair, a former mayor of Montego Bay, has long argued that dividing the parish into at least two divisions, and allowing them to have adequate human and physical resources, could go a far way in stemming the blood letting in the western parish.
“I think it [St James] has grown beyond being considered as one division. The complexity of the parish has changed dramatically and so it needs greater supervision to have greater control and management. I think it needs to be divided into more than one division,” Sinclair argued.
In a tactical move to tame the vicious crime monster in St James, Dr Williams said in Kingston on Tuesday that the parish is to be split into two police divisions by the end of the year.
And during a press conference on Sunday at the Office of the Prime Minister in Montego Bay, which was called in the wake of the wave of violent crimes in St James, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, argued that, with such a huge population, coupled with massive tourism arrivals, the strategy going forward would be to provide better police supervision of the parish.
“There may have to be some changes in the way in which the St James parish, this region, is administered by the police … to put more strategic leadership in this region, in this parish, to ensure that the policing is consummate to the size of the city and the level of business that takes place and the tourism industry which is so important,” said the prime minister.
“With a huge population, and if you consider as well the number of tourists that visit, then the population is significant. So the level of police resources, compared to the population, certainly from what we have seen from all analysis, is inadequate.”
And when pressed if the parish would be divided into more than the existing division that presently exists, Dr Williams, who was also present at the press conference, noted that it was on the cards.
“Certainly. In fact, we have already started discussions along this line,” was his response.
More than one dozen people were murdered in St James last week, which was said to be one of the bloodiest weeks in the history of the western parish.
The recent flare-up of violence prompted a visit to sections of the parish by the prime minister, who was accompanied by Minister of Security Robert Montague, Dr Williams, chief of defence staff of the Jamaica Defence Force Major General Antony Anderson, St James Members of Parliament Marlene Malahoo Forte, Heroy Clarke and Dr Horace Chang, along with several other key stakeholders.
During the press conference, the prime minister also expressed confidence that there will be a reduction in violent crimes in the parish soon.
“I met with the leadership of our national security apparatus here [St James] and I am confident, I am satisfied, that they are motivated, that they are committed, that they are going to do everything within their power of law to bring the situation to heel. And I am expecting that there will be results soon,” he emphasised.
But since then, there have been at least three more homicides in the parish, pushing the murder toll past the 200 mark for this year.
Yesterday, Dr Williams and a number of senior lawmen again visited sections of the crime-plagued parish. The commissioner, who has toured the parish on at least two other occasions since the start of the month, was later expected to update the nation on the worrying crime problem in St James.