SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — The police in Westmoreland feel some level of achievement at the reduction of crime in general across the parish. However, they refuse to temper their efforts as murders remain a thorn in the side of residents.

“It’s a pity that we are judged by murders, but all other categories of crime are down,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Wayne Josephs told the Jamaica Observer.

The reduction, he said, “is as a result of the hard work and dedication of the police, despite the resource challenges and all the other challenges that exist within the division.

“We know that murders are the greatest concern to our citizens, and to us as well as we are continuing to push to ensure that we curtail those criminal activities,” said Josephs, who heads the Westmoreland Police Division.

According to data from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), for the period January 1, 2022 to May 27, 2022 murders in the parish went up by 64.9 per cent when compared with the same period for 2021. However, shootings, rapes, robberies, and break-ins decreased by an average 20.9 per cent with break-ins having the highest decline at 44.4 per cent.

Deputy superintendent in charge of operations for the Westmoreland Police Division, Adrian Hamilton attributes the increase in murders, in large part, to lottery scamming which, he said, is aiding the importation of illegal high-powered weapons.

“One of the patterns that we are seeing — and this can also speak to why we are seeing so many victims of murders when you compare to last year — it’s not that we have had more incidents, but we have had more victims succumbing,” Hamilton said.

“We see where the calibre of firearms that are being used — especially in these murders and shootings — they are rifles that can do great damage. So we are seeing multiple victims because one man with a rifle can inflict great damage to a group of persons.

“We have a number of incidents where there have been multiple victims, and this is another part of what the lotto scamming situation has brought to the fore — the access to these weapons. These are expensive weapons that criminal actors buy, whether through the guns for drugs trade or other means of importing them to our ports. [It] has reigned terror on Westmoreland,” he added.

In response, SSP Josephs said the division will be ramping up road policing which, he told the Observer, has resulted in the seizure of 19 firearms since the start of the year.

“The response is a coordinated effort between the local police in Westmoreland and the military and also special operations. We are stepping up our road policing because the guns are travelling along the roadways in motor vehicles,” he said.

“We also do coordinated efforts with the neighbouring divisions (St Elizabeth, Hanover, St James) in order to intersect these illegal firearms and ammunition that are moving across the borders to commit these crimes,” Josephs said.

His colleague Hamilton agreed, adding that the division continues to focus its operations in the four key station districts that are contributing to a majority of the crimes in the parish.

“We have 10 police stations that make up the division. We have them for proximity policing and for resource management. We have grouped those 10 stations based on proximity and resource allocation into five zones. Each zone consists of two station areas, however what we are seeing consistently is that four station districts mainly contribute to over 90 per cent of the serious crimes that we are facing and that is in Savanna-la-Mar, Whithorn, Grange Hill, and Negril,” Hamilton stated.

He said the division’s investigative and intelligence operations will be specifically tailored for those areas in order to combat criminal activities. Other areas such as Darliston, Bethel Town, and Frome — which have been seeing increases in shootings and murders — will be included in those operations.

Josephs noted, though, that since the establishment of a zone of special operations (ZOSO) in sections of downtown Savanna-la-Mar early this year, there have been no murders in those areas.

“I want to highlight that the Dalling Street, Dexter Street area that used to be the main hot spot within the parish, ever since the establishment of the zone of special operations in that area in January — and we are now heading into the sixth month — we have not had one single murder in that area, and it was our main hot spot. The only incident that we have had in that area is one incident of shooting from the start of the ZOSO,” Josephs said.

“Last year that zone gave us the majority of the murders that we had in the parish, it was our main hot spot, so it’s a positive for the ZOSO within that area,” he added.

Despite this, Hamilton is insisting that there is more work to be done to rid the parish of crime.

“When persons are able to rest better, feel safer, then mission accomplished. But we know we have some ways to go in relation to bringing things to the level of normalcy that we require. There are persons who are wanted… for shooting and murders, and we are going after them. We continue to pursue them relentlessly,” he said.

“We are putting their pictures out there. We are putting the information out there and we want these persons to turn themselves in to the police because we have cases for them to answer to. We will not relent! We will continue to push at these individuals and employ any means legally necessary… we will not stop,” Hamilton vowed.