KINGSTON, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced the reimposition of states of public emergency (SOEs) in St James, Westmoreland, Hanover, St Ann, Clarendon, St Catherine and sections of Kingston and St Andrew.

The measures were announced at a media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday morning.

Holness says the crime threat level against Jamaicans remains elevated.

During Wednesday’s press conference, Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson said the country is now averaging four murders daily.Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that two States of Emergency (SOEs) have been declared in parishes across the island, as of Wednesday.

The parishes are St Ann, Clarendon, St Catherine, Kingston and St Andrew, St James, Westmoreland and Hanover.

“The Government, after careful consideration and on the advice of the security chiefs, decided to notify the Governor General that it was necessary and indeed appropriate to declare States of Public Emergency in the areas so described above,” Holness said during a press conference at Jamaica House on Wednesday.

He added that “while we have had reasonable success in controlling the number of murders leading up to and during the Christmas season, the threat for ongoing gang conflicts, contract killings, organised robberies of businesses, hijacking of goods during transit, and various scams that lead ultimately to the loss of lives, the spreading of fear and depriving entire communities of their freedom to pursue their business and happiness, that threat level remain elevated and extensive in scale.”

Holness noted that since the country is in the festive season, this requires the deployment of even greater resources.

“Therefore, the Government has to maximise and use all lawful means to multiply and project its security resources. Not only to investigate and interdict after the occurrence of the crime or loss of life but to increase presence, to deter criminals and to conduct various operations to preempt them,” he explained.

“The proof of the effectiveness of these measures is in the immediate reduction in murders and its follow-on lag effect in periods going forward,” Holness continued.

He explained that after analysing the necessary data, which included 127 murders in December 2021, a similar trend was noticed for 2022.

“If we were to analyse this, this would mean a murder rate of 56 per 100,000. That is unacceptable in any country by any standard by any means,” Holness added, noting that the Government will continue to be relentless in its effort to control murders and other crimes.

Holness said this prompted the Government to act “reasonably and decisively, to save lives and preserve the freedoms of ordinary citizens.”

“We will use the SOEs when necessary,” he declared.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police Antony Anderson revealed during his presentation that the daily average for murders during 2022 is four, which peaked in September when the daily average reached nearly five murders.

“September and October recorded increases as high as eight per cent when compared to 2021. Over the past two months we have managed to reduce the daily murder average to 2.5, and have reduced the gap between last year and this year, from eight per cent above in early October to 1.5 per cent currently,” Anderson said.

He went on to say that this has been achieved through a suite of legislative, operational and intelligence responses.

“The key legislative tools were the provisions of emergency powers to the security forces for two 14-day periods during November and December, and a new Firearms Act coming into effect at the beginning of November. These States of Public Emergency have once again proven to be the quickest and most effective way of rapidly reducing violent crime,” he stated.

“During the first period of the SOEs declared in November, murders were reduced by as high as 64 per cent and increased by as much as 161 per cent during the seven-day period when the emergency powers were removed. When the powers were reinstated, the first seven-day period once again recorded declines as high as 61 per cent in the divisions where the SOEs were declared and continued to trend downwards,” Anderson further said.

During 2022, at least six SOEs have been declared in various parts of the country.