OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Councillor Genevor Gordon-Bailey (Jamaica Labour Party, Lime Hall Division), who has expressed concerns about the economic effects on law-abiding citizens not allowed to host entertainment fund-raisers because of lawbreakers, has appealed to the police to take another look at a recent decision not to allow events in crime-plagued communities in St Ann.

The affected areas are Steer Town, Lime Hall and Mammee Bay.

“Most times I support the police in their decisions in the division and I know risk assessment is their job and they would know how best to do this. But I don’t think it should be a case where they say nothing at all can’t keep,” Gordon-Bailey told the Jamaica Observer.

The situation is not unique to St Ann. A similar decision has been made to halt events across several sections of the country, and Gordon-Bailey is just the latest politician to take issue with the approach being taken by the police. The concern, in most cases, is that the measures will create a financial burden for those who rely on events to feed their families.

“They could give the people like a designated area for the events to be held within communities and with the help of the police we monitor the areas,” Gordon-Bailey suggested.

Most of the residents in the division, she said, make a living from hosting small events and street dances.

“A lot of people make their day-to-day from having these round robins and they also use them to build up their small businesses which are going under. The sector was down for two years and they would have been out of an income. They have all their bills to pay and children to send to school also, so it is only fair,” she said.

She added: “Hosting events provides jobs even for the chef and even the man that pick up garbage can buy a bread because the promoter will give him a ting.”

The councillor also pleaded for criminals who continue to wreak havoc in the division to desist as their actions are harming the innocent among them.

“I’m really feeling it for the good citizens of the division who have to suffer because of what hoodlums continue to do to their communities. I want to beg these young men who are destroying the livelihoods of the good citizens of the division to stop. There is no need to be a gangster and their behaviour is now plaguing the communities,” Gordon- Bailey told the Observer.

“They have been trying their best to survive, every time I visit the division it is my small business operators who are begging some help. We have to at least give them a chance,” she added.