MONTEGO BAY, St James — The police here have promised to increase their presence around this western city through their multi-agency approach ‘Operation Restoring Paradise — A Public Order Reset’ as the holiday season fast approaches, said head of operations, Superintendent Eron Samuels.

“We are looking from the police side to beef up our deployments to match the increased activities that we know will take place in the township,” Superintendent Samuels said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

The operation, which started earlier in August, involves the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, St James Municipal Corporation, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), and the Transport Authority. It was originally planned for 14 days, but was later extended.

Operation Restoring Paradise is aimed at curtailing widespread illegal vending, indiscipline among taxi operators, and other forms of public nuisance. The collaboration between the various agencies is also a response to concerns raised by residents and local business interests who see public disorder as a growing problem.

According to Superintendent Samuels, the St James Police recognises that the Christmas period will attract a lot of illegal vending and is fully prepared to put a stop to this.

“We are also in dialogue with the municipal corporation to see how we can have extended hours and additional support from the municipal police because we expect to have a lot of migrant vendors coming to ply their wares and just the increase in persons utilising the markets and coming to shop within this season,” he told the Sunday Observer.“This is a concern and we are being proactive. Thankfully, we have gotten additional police officers who will be deployed to cover those areas so we believe that we will have a good handle on that,” the superintendent added.

Montego Bay is no stranger to illegal vending and more than a year ago, to regulate the city’s worrying vending problem, the city’s Mayor Leeroy Williams announced that the municipality is moving towards designating specific streets in Montego Bay as vending zones.

The initiative was met with much enthusiasm and support by vendors who were required to become registered to ply their wares in the zones. The designated vending spaces that were announced last year are Corner Lane, Lower Lawrence Lane, Church Lane, Lower Market Lane, North Lane, and parts of Orange Street. The popular St James Street was declared a no-vending zone by the municipal corporation.

The lawmen are also working diligently to ensure that these vending zones are adhered to, Superintendent Samuels told the Sunday Observer. The issue of non-compliance by food vendors will also be revisited, he said.

“We looking for [vending spaces] where they can go that will not impede the areas that we are trying to protect like the Montego Bay Cultural Centre. We are also looking at health concerns. The oil that they use is sometimes thrown in the gullies and we have the rodent infestation that the city is dealing with,” he pointed out.

With the vendors complying with the agencies’ approach, additional importance will be placed on ensuring that there is a free flow of traffic inside the town of Montego Bay. Superintendent Samuels told the Sunday Observer that this is a major priority in their efforts to police the space.

“Based on the amount of commerce which takes place in the area we have a lot of delivery trucks so we are trying to see how best we can organise to have the shops and wholesales receiving their wares, but at the same time ensure that we have a free flow of traffic within the space,” he said.

The Superintendent is assuring residents that, with the additional policing on the ground, they will be able to enjoy and safe and crime-free Christmas season. He further pointed out that the recently declared state of public emergency (SOE) in St James will also help the lawmen to beef up their work in the space.

“The police will show up and do what we have to do to ensure that the space is safe. We have put a dent in some of the robberies that have been taking place. Two major organisers of these robberies have been taken into custody and we are doing some work to put a dent in the reoccurrence of these robberies within the space,” he said.

“The SOE supports what we are doing because it now gives the military additional power to assist us, so we will be able to deploy and spread,” Superintendent Samuels noted.

“We will be pulling out all stops to ensure that we have enough manpower on the ground. We are utilising our 80-20 rule where we have most of our staff being operational and deployed on the streets in the season, so as usual, we ensure that the city is safe for all members of the public,” he told the Sunday Observer.

In the meantime, residents are being asked to exercise personal responsibilities when celebrating during the holiday season. Superintendent Samuels said that while lawmen are working to ensure the safety of civilians, there are criminals who prey on vulnerable residents during this time.

“We just want to encourage members of the public to be very careful in this period. There are a lot of persons who may try to pass on counterfeit notes and there may be a threat for persons who are pickpockets, so we just want to encourage members of the public to be extremely careful,” he said.

Superintendent Samuels added, “In this period where everybody is trying to be merry by having a drink or two, we just want to remind people that they are not to drink and drive. Always have a designated driver and as best as possible avoid the roads. Montego Bay is a city that has a lot of vehicles and the fewer people we have traversing the roadways the better it is as [people] tend to be a little more reckless.”

“We want to not just keep the murders down, but we want to keep the fatal accidents down at this time as well,” he told the Sunday Observer.