KINGSTON, Jamaica — Local Government Minister, Desmond McKenzie says members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) are now protecting personnel and property at the island’s disposal sites as part of a wider security plan being implemented in the wake of recent fires at the locations.

The ministry, in a release today, said McKenzie’s announcement was made after a meeting with the board of the National Solid Waste Management Authority.

“The JCF and the JDF are on duty as we speak, and arrangements are already being made to enhance their physical presence at the disposal sites with private security personnel. Additionally, we will be procuring and deploying surveillance drones to constantly monitor all activities at the disposal sites,” McKenzie was quoted as saying.

“The Government is serious when it says that the disposal sites, which are national assets, will be protected, and that the workers assigned to them will also be protected.”

The minister stated that the security plan being rolled out at the sites is intended to address all identified issues in the short, medium and long term.

“We are responding not only to current issues, but we are also allocating resources and using personnel and strategies over time to ensure that security breaches will be eliminated once and for all. This Administration has strongly resolved that the plans to continue managing the disposal sites, and to prepare them to be turned over to private ownership and public regulation as part of the national waste to energy policy, will not be sabotaged by criminally-minded people bent of profiting from the discomfort of their fellow citizens.”