MONTEGO BAY, St James — Police chief for St James Superintendent Eron Samuels has proposed that violence-plagued communities should be closer to the front of the queue when electricity is being restored after a natural disaster.

“I know persons are going to want their community to receive light first but we have to prioritise where we know the violence can emanate from as quickly as possible,” he said.

Samuels was speaking during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

Sections of St James, like other parishes across Jamaica, are still without electricity because of damage caused by Hurricane Beryl last Wednesday. The Jamaica Public Service continues to work on restoring power but Samuels has partially attributed a triple murder committed in Canterbury this Tuesday to a lack of electricity. It was the only fatal shooting within the month-long period between June 9 and July 9.

“[It] happened under the cloak of darkness so we have to ensure that if we have another storm of this nature, there are some priority communities that we need to work to get the light on in these areas in order to avoid these sort of situations,” the cop urged.

Though disappointed that the triple murder occurred, he is heartened by the fact that his team was able to respond quickly and seize two firearms, that the main suspect has turned himself in to the police, while the hunt continues for another man implicated in the incident.

Samuels pointed out that there has been a drop in murders in St James overall.

“We have had a very responsive and proactive approach to crime fighting recently through our Operation Storm, which has yielded a lot of success,” he said.

“For the month of June we only had five murders which was between the 1st and the 9th of June and we intend to have this sort of approach going forward where we relentlessly pursue the criminals and try to make the parish as safe as it can be,” the senior cop continued.

These and other actions were welcomed by most members of the St James Municipal Corporation, including mayor of Montego Bay Councillor Richard Vernon, who commended the police.

“I know that you have been working tirelessly and you and the team have been doing a very good job. To know that you have had almost six weeks without a [gun] murder, it is very, very commendable,” he said.

“I have not seen such long spells without murders in the city space and the wider municipality for a very long time. Whatever you are doing to gather the intelligence and to ensure that you react in a swift manner, just continue to put in that work and to enhance it,” Vernon continued.

Samuels used the opportunity to appeal to the corporation to assist with an issue that he said has been hobbling his team’s efforts to fight crime in St James: potholes that prevent the free flow of traffic.

“There is a lot of damage to our road infrastructure. There are quite a few more potholes and we are just calling on the assistance of the corporation in getting some of these potholes fixed,” he urged.

“Some of the roads may be NWA (National Works Agency) roads but I think it’s in our best interest — for some of these small potholes — to look at doing some repairs to them,” he said.

However, he was advised that roads that fall under the NWA’s remit would have to be addressed by that State agency.