MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Smith says there will be heightened security in this south-central parish in anticipation of increased traffic between Kingston and here following the completion of the US$188-million May Pen to Williamsfield leg of Highway 2000.

The highway, which is now 75 per cent complete, is fast advancing, with it expected to be completed ahead of the March 2023 deadline.

Smith, who is in charge of Area Three — Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth — says the police are mindful that the development will attract criminals.

“What we do is that we do our assessment and our analysis and we put structures in place to treat with all the increased traffic that will be coming through the space,” he said in response to a question posed by the Jamaica Observer at a crime summit in Mandeville on Tuesday.

The summit was organised by Manchester’s Custos Garfield Green.

“We recognise that anywhere you have development, it attracts criminals. That is why, for instance, you have squatter communities in certain areas, because once development is taking place you find people need jobs. They come and they set up shacks and from that, they do not remove and they have squatter communities,” he explained.

“We understand the dynamics and the landscape of the expansion and what it comes with,” he added.

The project — which will reduce travel time between Kingston, Mandeville and points west — was originally scheduled for completion in October 2022.

ACP Smith said the police are aware of the implications of reduced travel time.

“We are also aware that it is now taking 35 minutes and 20 minutes from Kingston to Clarendon; we are going to be adding another 20 minutes on the Williamsfield leg. What that will do is to decrease the travel time as it [relates] to how fast the good and the not-so-good [people] will move on the thoroughfare,” he said.

“What we are going to be doing is populating the street with more police officers, especially at the exits and entrances [of the highway]. We have been doing that in St Ann and Clarendon so far… if you noticed last year we would have apprehended some criminals right in the toll booth so we understand the landscape, and our security strategies right now are up to date with what is happening and we might just add one or two more layers,” he added.

He pointed out that some of the trainees who will be graduating from the National Police College of Jamaica are to be deployed to bolster police presence.

“You will see additional police officers on the street so we are prepared for the expansions as we grow within the communities,” he said.

Earlier this month, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson declared his intention to utilise the graduands in shoring up divisions such as St Elizabeth and Manchester that are seeing upsurges in crime.