Commanding officer for St Ann, Superintendent Gary Francis, says Jamaican citizens should stop expecting miracles from the commissioners of police and instead recognise that they too have a significant role to play in reducing crime.

“When I hear people asking what Mr Quallo going to do to fix crime, I think it’s just stupid, it’s just a clichÃ&Copy;.

It has nothing to with the police and everything to do with the values and attitude of our people,” Francis told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

Francis argued that the country’s citizens were becoming increasingly violent and quick to resort to violence, instead of employing other means to resolve differences.

“A number of our citizens are quick to turn to violence no matter how simple the situation is,” he said.

According to Francis, one of the main factors fuelling the high incidence of violence in the country is a lack of proper values among citizens.

He said that a lack of proper parenting was also seriously impacting the entire country.

Francis argued that there was very little that the police by themselves can do in curtailing domestic violence.

“When a person takes up a knife and pushes it into his partner, how can the police solve that except to arrest that person and ensure that he or she is charged and placed before the courts.”

The St Ann crime boss was speaking to the Jamaica Observer in the wake of an incident on Saturday where a 23-year-old young man was shot by a 21-year-old during a dispute in Carib Heights, Ocho Rios.

Allegations are that both men who had a long-standing dispute were involved in an altercation when one used a piece of stick to assault the other.

The man who was reportedly hit with the stick left and returned with a firearm, which he used to shoot and injure the other before fleeing the scene.

The police were summoned and an injured man was assisted to the St Ann’s Bay Hospital where he has been admitted for treatment. The alleged shooter was caught and a .38 revolver and four rounds of ammunition were reportedly seized.

According to Superintendent Francis, further investigation is being done and the young man is to be questioned before being charged.

— Tanesha Mundle