MAJOR General Antony Anderson says states of public emergency (SOE) now in effect in sections of the island will remain so for as long as needed.

In fact, the commissioner of police said at a Lions Club of Kingston meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday that, despite the naysayers, the police will use every available resource to keep Jamaicans safe.

“We will do it (have SOE in place) until the conditions change. The fact of the matter is that we got a significant reduction in crime in 2018, and it is roughly the same now as last year, so it hasn’t gone up tremendously. We are trying to hold it there, but it needs to drop significantly.

“One thousand two hundred murders in a country of this size is way too many. We have people living in real fear,” he said, pointing to the fact that although there is talk that the SOE and zones of special operations (ZOSOs) are not effective, data says otherwise.

“All the numbers say that the SOE is effective. If you have a few killings in St James, it’s a whole lot less than when you don’t have those measures in place. And the fact that we actually have some killings still is indicative of the willingness and risk that people are willing to take to kill other people,” he continued.

The commissioner said before the first SOE was implemented in St James, killings were at 182 per 100,000 people, which is far more than could be considered normal, as the regional average for murders is 16 per 100,000 people.

“As soon as it (SOE) stopped the last time, the numbers went up again. St James has been violent for a while and it’s going to need long-term strategies,” he said.

He then stated that there is tremendous work taking place in the parish and that in one week, there have been 22 convictions in the High Court.

“We have to use every tool in our toolbox to try and keep people safe in St James. I go through there and you will have an old lady saying, ‘Thank you. I can now sleep on my bed.’ This is not a joke.

“We need to change this (the current state of crime) and we need to do it collectively. We are in a crisis, in terms of the number of people being killed in this country.

“France had a problem the other day. They had about 30 people being killed and they are two years of an SOE without even batting an eyelid, because French lives matter. We need to make sure ours do too,” he said, pointing out that the states of emergency and the zones of special operations are not substitutes for policing activities, but are to provide additional support.

In the meantime, the top cop said members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are working to improve their level of professionalism.

The commissioner said he is cognisant that there is still more work to be done, adding that steps are being taken to polish cops’ skills.

“The truth is, as a force, we have to get better with our interaction with the public,” Anderson said. “We need to be more understanding when people come into the [police] stations, and it is something we are working on. We have put in the measures necessary to be aware when things are going wrong.”

He said, too, that if police officers were to abide by three essential principles, there would be positive results.

“There are three fundamental things that our officers must keep in mind. The first is the rule of law: Police officers must obey the law. The second is respect for all: They have to give respect to get respect. And the third is to be a force for good,” the commissioner said.

He admitted that there will never be a way to train officers for every single situation they might face, but if they use the three fundamental principles as guides, their reactions to situations will be appropriate.