Municipal police personnel are irate following the New Year’s Eve killing of one of their colleagues, and are now calling for firearms while on duty and more representation from the heads of the various municipalities.

Municipal police officer Jermaine Evans, 34, and his uncle, 46-year-old Peter Stewart, were murdered on Friendship main road in St James on New Year’s Eve.

Evans, who was based at the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) since 2018, was attacked while travelling to work along with his uncle by armed men. Both men were pronounced dead at hospital.

One municipal police officer told the Jamaica Observer that there is no protection for municipal officers from similar attacks.

“You are left to the hands of the criminals out there to do whatever to you. Whatever happens just happens. That’s how I see it. There’s nothing to protect ourselves while on duty out there. To be honest, I’ve never heard a person really come out and say, ‘Alright, we have decided to issue all municipal police with Government-issued firearms.’ No minister, no mayor, nobody at all,” the man lamented.

“It is completely rubbish. You are sworn in as a special district constable, you go to training school and you do the various training that is required of a police officer and when you come out, it’s like it doesn’t make any sense. You do this vigorous training and then it’s like you’re just left in the hands of the criminals. There’s nothing to defend yourself. You don’t even have a baton sometimes. No handcuff, no pepper spray,” he continued.

According to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, municipal enforcement entails the enforcement of local laws and retaining civic order. Over the past 10 years, municipal police units have been established in each council and have demonstrated that they provide an “invaluable service” to an arm of the councils.

The ministry also said that, “The deployment of Municipal Police Training programme forms part of the Local Government Reform Process wherein the intent is to ensure that each local government authority has the requisite trained and authorised personnel to administer all the laws and regulations falling under their jurisdiction.”

Montego Bay Mayor and Chairman of the SJMC, Leeroy Williams, condemned the killing and told the Sunday Observer that before they were employed, municipal officers were told that they would not be able to be armed on the job.

“If they have personal firearms, they can use it to protect themselves. But doing the job of the municipal corporation, they would not be allowed to use firearms. For them to use firearms, it would have to be legislated and we haven’t reached that stage yet. They are known as special district constables but they are allowed to use firearms while they are on the job,” Williams explained.

Last year when municipal officers visited Olympic Gardens in St Andrew to maintain order at a garage that was being operated on the roadway, the municipal police said they were “ambushed” by members of the community.

Armed men shot at municipal officers from the SJMC who went to entertainment hot spot Pier 1 in Montego Bay last year to remove a vehicle. The thugs opened fire at the wrecker that he oficers were using to remove the vehicle while they were inside. Shortly after, a municipal police truck was set ablaze.

The municipal officer of three years told the Sunday Observer that for a long time, there has been no authority for municipal police.

“There have been so many incidents. I have been in confrontational situations. Machete a draw and knife a draw. Just last month, a man draw a machete after mi while I was on duty. I didn’t have anything to defend myself. On more than one occasion people threaten me… various times. It is really sticky,” he said.

“At times fear comes across my mind, but sometimes I have to just shut it away and try to do my duties the best way that I can. I am a human so I can’t say that, at times, fear don’t come across. It does come across. Fear is a factor because anything is a possibility. But, when you have your family and yourself to feed, you have to try to go through.” Another municipal officer who works in a different parish agreed. The man, who has been a municipal police officer for over a decade, told the Sunday Observer that apart from being outfitted with weapons, there is need for proper representation.

“Somebody needs to come out now and say something… implement something fi di man dem going forward that can make the job easier. We need more protection on duty and even off duty too. This is sloppy and it needs to be highlighted. Something needs to be done. Man out there with gun right a dem foot. Machete, knife, everything,” he said.

“And not only that… the areas that we have to go in and work sometimes. In Kingston, some areas that we have to go into to remove derelict vehicles or go into the areas based on all different kinds of reports, it nuh normal. This is not just about wanting firearm alone. There are non-lethal weapons like pepper spray also, because giving a man a gun nah guh just solve a problem. And some situations don’t really call for gun. But, at the same time, you need that for a higher protection. Our work is not much different from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).”

The man added that, according to many people: “Municipal police a try stop them food, which is not so. The Government send municipal police out there to conduct their duties. Yuh never know what a guh happen. But, at the same time, they want us to go out there and do everything that they send us to go and do every day. We need somebody to represent us and let the public know that we are doing our lawful work and let them know that, if anybody do us anything, they are going to go for them. A serious time now. A nuh joke time now.”

Williams admitted that municipal police are “less respected than the JCF members.

“That is a fact. We are fully aware of that and we would definitely like to see them in a position where they would be accorded the respect. If it is a case that it is the firearm that will make them have that respect, we’re not there yet. It’s a process, but we’re looking at it”.

A third municipal police told the Sunday Observer that the public had not been sensitised about municipal officers.

“Nobody knows that we are special district constables. Nobody has ever sensitised the public about us. And the question that I want to go to the public with is: Who does municipal police take their orders from? Many people have it to say that we come out and work on our own, or that we take away people things and dash dem weh,” he lamented.

He also said that there was a general lack of resources in the municipalities.

“There is a lack of everything. Right now, all the NSWMA [National Solid Waste Management Authority] people them get better treatment that we. First and foremost, we have nobody to back us. About four weeks ago, a vendor pulled a machete on me and my co-worker in a market and nothing came out of it. Dem nuh see we as important to them.”

He told the Sunday Observer that Evans’ murder will give way to a vicious trend.

“A man a go seh dem shot one a dem [municipal police] wah day and nothing nuh come out of it, so we can slap weh two more in a next parish. They are going to say them ina uniform, but nothing nah come out of it if dem do we nothing.”

The man said he applied for a firearm last year and was turned down.

“They said I don’t have any unusual risk to be armed. I stated my job and the job description. A nuh like seh mi nuh justify why mi want a firearm. I applied last year and they turned me down. And I had receipts from threats I have reported. Yet still I don’t have any unusual risk to be armed,” he said.

He added, “Baton and pepper spray cyaa help yuh when a man draw gun. Thank God for those who try go the extra mile to get a ballistic vest and helmet. The corporation provide some helmets that are thin. One little 3.8 revolver can go through that and yuh done.”

The Sunday Observer tried to get a comment from Robert Hill, CEO at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation last Wednesday and Thursday. On both occasions, Hill stated that he was in a meeting and would return the call. He has not done so to date.