With Portland holding the distinction of being the only parish in the island where no murders were recorded in the first two months of this year, the man who leads the police team in the parish, Superintendent Duane Wellington, says every effort is being made to ensure that the crime numbers remain low this year.

For the first two months of last year two murders were committed in Portland, with the parish finishing 2019 with an islandwide low of 10 killings — and Wellington is convinced that this was only possible because of the cooperation of the residents.

“I would say Portland is the quietest parish, based on the statistics. We have our issues, but when we compare ourselves with other places and other police divisions we are still on top of our game — and I must give thanks to the residents for that.

“In regards to domestic disputes which end in fatalities, we had four last year. We are getting better and each year the numbers go down, but it is still not acceptable,” said Wellington.

He added that members of the police force have been visiting schools and communities to encourage persons to resolve their disputes without violence.

“We have to be doing a lot of conflict resolution initiatives in the schools and in the communities. There is a vast improvement but we are still not where we want to be. We go into the schools and talk to students from grade seven onwards so every form can benefit.

“We also go to churches and just make use of every opportunity to speak on dispute resolutions,” Wellington underscored.

According to the superintendent, other institutions also play a role in the overall work being done in maintaining the peace in the parish.

“We get assistance from the Victims’ Support Division, the dispute resolution team in Buff Bay, and the justice centre.

“We have plans to see how best we can maintain the numbers for western Portland this year, and we definitely expect it to be better than last year,” Wellington said.

In the meantime, Member of Parliament for Western Portland Daryl Vaz told the Jamaica Observer North and East that there is no doubt that the residents of Portland are doing their part to contribute to the low crime rate.

“Portland has been the parish with the lowest crime rate in Jamaica for many decades and that is as a result of the people. They do not allow strangers to come in the area to seek refuge and any time that happens, it is reported to the police. So, there is a synergy between the police and the citizens and since I became the Member of Parliament in 2007, I have been very strong in relations to making sure Portland remains as is.

I cooperate and help the police and act as a mediator between the people and the police when needs be,” declared Vaz as he offered his congratulations to the people of Portland for their role in making it the most peaceful parish in Jamaica while urging them to continue in this vein.