DEPUTY Superintendent of Police (DSP) Coleridge Minto has described the crackdown on illegal parties in the St Andrew South Division as a cat and mouse game between partygoers and the police.

DSP Minto told the Jamaica Observer that the revellers are adamant in their determination to breach the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA), and it’s a constant fight between them and the police to have the illegal parties shut down.

“It’s a cat and mouse game. The patrol vehicle drives up and people start to run in different directions. They jump over the fences, they jump over walls; it is almost like a stampede sometimes. By the time there is an enforcement, you are able to hold just maybe the persons who own the [music] equipment and doesn’t want to run away leave them. So, oftentimes we end up holding the promoter and the persons who own the equipment and prosecute them, and we have done that right across the division,” he said.

Minto, who is head of the Duhaney Park Police Station, pointed to several areas in the division where parties are held which include Maverley, Drewsland, Brook Valley, Olympic Gardens and Carifta Avenue.

“We have illegal parties right across the division and we have been doing a lot of enforcement. You will find that once you close a party today, another person does another tomorrow,” he told the Observer in a recent interview.

Data provided by commanding officer for St Andrew South, Senior Superintendent Kirk Ricketts showed that up to February 13 this year, 178 illegal parties were shut down and 84 arrests made.

Further, the data showed that 1285 people were warned for breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) and 33 sound systems, including laptops and speaker boxes seized.

Further, one partygoer who spoke with the Observer on request of anonymity, believes there should no longer be a hunt aimed at shutting down parties.

“Yes, dem can free wi up now man! Certain inner-city people depend on the entertainment sector for an income,” the woman said.

The 22-year-old, who is a university student, said she has been hosting parties since the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic to fund her school expenses. So far, she has kept two parties which allowed her to pay her tuition in full.

“I kept a party five days after corona came here. I do it because I want to continue school. Mi affi graduate so I just focus on the finish line,” she said.

And when she isn’t hosting parties, she attends those held by others in inner-city communities such as Waterhouse, Tivoli and Brook Valley.

“I go to parties almost everyday and I balance it with school. I go to parties because life must go on. COVID-19 has been here from March 2020 and I haven’t got sick and I’m not vaccinated. At first I was scared because of the picture the media portrayed of the virus but from I realised that, nothing nuh happen to me,” she added, noting that the parties help with crime control as there is more focus on enjoyment from the festivities.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the measures imposed under the DRMA to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus will end in a few weeks.

“The DRMA has reached its limit; the country has reached its tolerance limit for restrictions. In the management of the pandemic there is no general agreement as to what should be done, and any action you take is subject to high criticism, some unfair, some without basis, and some with great political consequences,” said Holness who was addressing the House of Representatives on February 10.