MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James police’s special operations team is to be expanded as part of efforts to curb serious crime within the division.

“The team is now 13 but we plan to bring it to 20. We believe that it will increase the amount of operations that we can do and spread right across the division even more, impacting more of the hot spots within the space,” said head of the division Superintendent Eron Samuels.

He was speaking with the Jamaica Observer at the Montego Bay Freeport Police Station on Wednesday after the handover of a mobile container office donated by the Howard Ward Benefit Foundation.

The space has been assigned to the special ops team.

“This team is one of the teams that really has made a great impact within the St James division. Over the years they have found hundreds of guns and taken into custody a lot of wanted persons, persons of interest,” Samuels told reporters during the ceremony.

The team was established by his predecessor, Senior Superintendent of Police Vernon Ellis.

“They have greatly contributed to the decrease in murders and shootings that we have across the division,” said Samuels who added that special ops is the go-to team in emergencies.

“If we have a critical incident within the space, whether it be natural disaster or anything, this is the team that we will utilise right across the division to deal with any emergency that we have,” Samuels stated.

He said it was only fitting that the team be adequately housed.

“This team should really get the recognition they deserve in at least having a proper office space so that they can carry out their administrative functions a lot better and serve the people of St James,” added Samuels as he lauded the entity that made the donation.

“We are really pleased with the support from the Howard Ward Foundation, they have been a good friend of the police over the years,” Samuels said.

During the ceremony the retrofitted container was placed on a base of four concrete pillars. Soon after, members of the special ops team began moving in office furniture.

There have long been concerns raised about inadequacies at some police stations in St James.

In April, president of the St James Police Civic Committee Lee Bailey raised an alarm about conditions at the marine station in Freeport and the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay.

In a release, he said the Barnett Street Police Station was “inhumane for both the uniformed policemen and women who must work there as well as the prisoners kept there in lockup”.

The matter was raised at the recently held Jamaica Police Federation annual conference and Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang promised that the issues would be addressed.

“Work will begin at the Barnett Street Police Station, it may take a couple of weeks with procurement but I can tell you that work will begin during this financial year to bring it to a more acceptable level,” the minister said then.

“There is a medium-term plan to do a number of things but because some of the buildings are considered heritage [sites], that will take a little more time,” he added.

Wednesday’s donation will help alleviate some of the strain and Samuels was effusive in his praise for the Howard Ward Foundation and Ward’s Power Tools.

“We reached out to them and they were able to assist us in getting this new office for the special ops team,” he said.

“A lot of what we do, especially in the operational field, we have gotten support from them, a lot of the checkpoints and the zones of special operations (ZOSOs), they have really assisted us over the years,” he added.

Howard Ward, who spoke of his company’s long-standing relationship with the police, said this latest initiative was made possible through a recent charity event, MoBay Night Run.

“We saw that there was a need for it and so we decided to offer this mobile office container. I think it will greatly impact the officers in carrying out their duties in the special ops,” said Ward.