Hanover records surge in major crimes, prompting inclusion in SOE
HANOVER, Jamaica— Among the parishes in the Area One Police Division, Hanover stands out as the only one experiencing an increase in major crimes compared to the same period last year.
The other three parishes in the Area One Police Division are Trelawny, St James, and Westmoreland.
As of Thursday, November 23, the murder count in Hanover reached 64 for the year, 21 more than the 43 recorded during the same period last year.
The surge in murders, combined with data indicating an influx of migrating criminals to Hanover, influenced the decision to include the parish in the four States of Public Emergency (SOEs) announced by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Thursday. The other three parishes under SOEs are St James, St Catherine, and Clarendon.
READ: SOEs declared for Hanover, St James, St Catherine, and Clarendon
“So one of the things is [that] Hanover is the only division in Area One that is above where they were last year in terms of major crimes. We are seeing a lot of persons moving from the high policing locale to the parish that is not being policed aggressively. We see Hanover as one of the parishes that is so vulnerable, and as a result of that, it is necessary to have a kind of hardened approach in Hanover as well,” assistant commissioner of police in charge of Area One, Clifford Chambers said.
On Friday, a day after the SOE was declared in the parish, 37-year-old Adrian Anglin, a taxi operator from Salt Spring, Green Island, Hanover, was shot dead, and another man was injured in Green Island Square
