Popular Jamaica Observer columnist, criminologist Jason McKay, was on Thursday, July 23 awarded a doctorate in criminal justice from Nova South Eastern University for his study on Portmore homicides occurring between 2015 and 2018.

The study, which conducted an analysis on 381 murders committed over four years, was based on the theory of victim/offender overlap and the contribution of informal settlements.

Calabar High School old boy McKay, a popular figure in policing and the security industry, became a writer for the Sunday Observer in 2017.

Considered an expert on Jamaican gangs, he also serves the St Catherine South police division’s special operations unit.

Since writing as a criminologist for the Sunday Observer, he has become one of the most widely read columnists in Jamaican print media.

He is also the chief executive officer of McKay Security and has been a fixture in the Jamaican judicial system, appearing in cases in various roles ranging from a forensic reconstruction expert in the Tahj Burrell murder and one of the officers in the Vybz Kartel murder.

He was also the investigating officer in one of the Vybz Kartel co-accused Kahira Jones gun offence matters. Jones was convicted last year in the Kingston Gun Court.