Amid the worsening crime problem in Westmoreland, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang heads to Savanna-la-Mar today for a public meeting as he vows to give his “full attention” to cauterise the spiralling murder rate in the western parish.

“There are some significant operational changes, I can’t go into them… they will be reviewed very quickly because we can’t allow Westmoreland to slip through our hands this year,” Dr Chang declared.

“So Westmoreland can rest assured that they are going to get full attention, and I will be there on Thursday night for a public community meeting”, the security minister told the Jamaica Observer West on Tuesday.

In keeping with the Disaster Risk Management Act, only 50 people will be allowed in the Manning’s School auditorium where the meeting will be held. It will, however, be streamed live on Nationwide.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared a zone of special operation (ZOSO) in the Parade Gardens community in the Central Kingston Police Division which recorded the second-highest percentage of murders last year.

Speculation was rife that a ZOSO would have also been declared in Westmoreland after the parish ended last year with a 60 percentage increase in murders, the highest across the 19 police divisions. Last year, the Westmoreland police tallied some 128 murders — 48 more than the 80 recorded the previous year.

The killing spree in the western parish carried over into this year with some five murders, including two double murders within the first four days of the new year.

Many Westmoreland residents expressed disappointment when the enhanced security measure was not declared in their parish as part of efforts to tame the crime monster.

Among those who were yearning for the ZOSO in the parish is a female Savanna-la-Mar resident who claimed she lost family members in a gang feud that has gripped sections of Savanna-la-Mar in recent months.

“I have lost loved ones inna this ongoing war and I was hoping that the prime minister would have announced one ZOSO here,” the woman, who did not want to be named, told the Observer West.

Custos of Westmoreland Canon Hartley Perrin was also among those anticipating a ZOSO in the parish and has expressed his intent to voice his disappointment at today’s public meeting.

“I am disappointed because that was what I anticipated. In the absence of the state of emergency I would have thought that given the increased criminal activity within this parish, we would have seen a more concentrated effort to put a lid on the crime, especially murders in this parish, so I am a bit disappointed,” Custos Perrin said.

“The deputy prime minister and minister of national security has called a meeting for this Thursday with stakeholders of this parish. I don’t know what he will offer, but I have some suggestions to give him, but we will see what happens after. But this [ZOSO] is one of the issues we certainly will be putting on the table on Thursday.”

President of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce Moses Chybar said he too was expecting a ZOSO in the crime-ridden parish.

“I see where there is quite a bit of struggle going on with the crime situation. So we would have wanted to have some stricter measures in place to curtail the crime and violence because it has been causing a lot of stress, loss of lives and fear in the minds of business people and citizens on a whole. So we believe it [ZOSO] would have helped to re-establish some level of confidence,” Chybar argued.

Bishop Oneil Russell, head of the Ark of the Covenant Holy Trinity Church in Savanna-la-Mar, said he was eagerly awaiting the social development component of the ZOSO in Savanna-la-Mar.

“I am so disappointed especially because I was looking forward to the social intervention aspect of the ZOSO,” Russell stressed.

For his part, Richard Wallace, the president of the Negril Chamber of Commerce, said while the social intervention that comes with the ZOSO is welcomed, he would much prefer a state of emergency (SOE) in the parish.

“I agree that we need some of those social intervention programmes, however, we want a more immediate solution which is what the SOE has proven to be. It will curtail the numbers and the incidents immediately. So that is why other stakeholders and I would prefer a SOE instead of a ZOSO,” he argued.