FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Sirens and prayer opened the official handing-over ceremony for nine service vehicles, valued at $50 million, which were commissioned into service across the Trelawny Police Division, last Thursday.

The units— three SUVs, four pick-up trucks, one 15-seater minibus, and one sedan motor car— are all equipped with state-of-the-art tracking devices.

Commanding officer for the division, Superintendent Kirk Ricketts, said there is advanced technology installed in each vehicle to observe the actions of the driver of the unit. This, he said, will alert the designated operations team to take appropriate action to any suspected misuse of the vehicle, in an effort to mitigate any unnecessary damage to the unit.

“We are now going to use technology to manage the vehicles, so one thing that is new to the division is a software that will allow us to see where the vehicles are at any given time. This software allows us to see the speed of the vehicle, the driver, whether or not the driver is making a sharp right or a sharp left turn, or whether or not the driver brakes suddenly. Now, this is going to be managed by the operations portfolio,” Ricketts told the small gathering.

“We have somebody who will be sitting down and monitoring this software. Information will be sent back to the operations team on a real-time basis. Not only are we collating the information about driver’s behaviour, but we will also be sending this information to the driver on a real-time basis to the driver him/herself, so it is the responsibility of that individual, who will be on day or night duty, to reach out to the driver once an alert comes up, so as to address the driver to either reduce speeding or otherwise. We believe that will help us to maintain the fleet that we have because it is very important for the customers in this parish,” explained Ricketts.

He further emphasised the link between reliable transportation and crime from a police standpoint, arguing that he treats his operation akin to a corporate entity where assets must be effectively managed.

“It is extremely important for us to treat our division as a corporate entity, to manage the assets that have been given to us by the high command. It is also important that we understand the connection between mobility and crime. For us to be able to serve the people of this parish, we need mobility,” Ricketts argued.

Custos of Trelawny, Paul Muschett, who noted that he has been pleading with the commissioner of police to assist with the outfitting of the parish with new vehicles, expressed gratitude for the fleet.

“We have been pleading with the commissioner to provide Trelawny with more vehicles and we are here today in celebration of our prayers being answered,” said an elated Muschett.

Deputy Superintendent Winston Milton, the officer in charge of operations, who expressed similar sentiments, noted that the new additions will complement police operations in the parish of Trelawny.

“These vehicles will definitely improve the quality of our service delivery to you. We have been faced with some serious constraints recently, but this will go a far way to alleviate the transport issues that we were having,” expressed Milton.

Commander of the Wakefield Police Station, Sergeant Keisha Smith, also expressed gratitude, as she reiterated her commitment to serving the populace.

“I can assure the public that we are committed and we are willing, and we are able to serve. It [vehicle] comes to us with great responsibility because we understand that there is a tracking system and as such we are accountable to the public and to the JCF [Jamaica Constabulary Force], both internally and externally,” said Sergeant Smith, whose station received one of the units.

Superintendent Ricketts, meanwhile, urged his senior officers to ensure that they take very good care of the vehicles entrusted to them.

“I have also mandated my zone commanders that each motor vehicle must be inspected at least once weekly. I have given a charge to my men and women and they’ve agreed that they will keep it up,” Ricketts stressed.

The vehicles were blessed with consecrated oil by the assigned station priests, Reverend Lloyd Rosegreen and Bishop Delton Collins.