WITH the construction of a $2.2-billion divisional police headquarters slated to get underway soon in St Catherine, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has signalled that the investment on the security side is one plank of the Administration’s plan to “take back Spanish Town from the criminals”.

The prime minister, who was speaking at Tuesday’s contract signing for the development at Jamaica House in St Andrew, said already investors in anticipation of the turnaround in the storied capital have been making strategic purchases for future development.

“As we are talking about it, others are seeing it and so there are persons who are making investments in Spanish Town quietly; they are buying up land, they are doing developments because they see, the general public might not see, but the investors who have a keen eye, see what is going to happen to Spanish Town,” he said.

“I am from Spanish Town, I was born in Spanish Town, it is a place of such great history and potential. It pains my heart to see the buildings deteriorating and the Georgian buildings just disappearing; so much history and culture there that could be made of value. The town historically for a long time has been overrun, taken over by criminal gangs that are really strangling the town; for us to take back the town, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will be an important element tin that strategy,” Holness declared.

According to the prime minister, it is also crucial to get the people on the side of the police in the area to further corral the criminals. The Andre “Blackman” Bryan-led One Don faction and the Tesha Miller-led faction of the Klansman Gang as well as the One Order Gang are the major criminal organisations operating in the space along with several splinters. Bryan is currently convicted and incarcerated while Miller, who has been serving time for the 2008 murder of former Jamaica Urban Transit Company head Douglas Chambers, is before the courts on gang charges.

“The criminals have interwoven themselves in the fabric of the community that they have protection and security. But if we can get the people there to see that the police will guarantee their safety and security, then that fabric will unravel and the gangs won’t feel safe there,” the prime minister said.

According to Holness, in building that relationship with the community, providing residents there “with the necessary public services so they feel a part of the state”, is an imperative.

“And that is why we have made this massive investment, literally building a new Spanish Town Hospital, then the police headquarters, we have some investments to make in the roadways there, including the approach to Spanish Town. There are some communities there that are very old communities — Hampton Green, Ensom City, all of these areas where the infrastructure is deteriorating that we need to intervene for their roads and their water. So there is a plan for how we are going to take back Spanish Town and there is an important security element to the plan,” Holness said.

Noting that some 520,000 people live in Spanish Town, making it home to the second largest concentration of the population, the prime minister said a 20 per cent reduction in murders sustained for the next five years and elimination of the gangs would restore the town to its glory days.

“You would see Spanish Town go through a growth phase that previously you would not imagine and that is what we are going to do, strategically we are doing to,” Holness said in hailing members of the security forces for their efforts so far.

“They have taken out one character called Devil [recently] and I know they have others on their radar. My advice to the criminals, ‘just put down your guns and leave because the police are going to get you, one by one, two by two’…and they are doing it in a way that is lawful, protecting the innocent and ensuring that they bring those persons who are breaking the law, those who are organising violence, bring them before the courts,” he added.

The facility for which construction should begin this month should be completed in July 2026. The aim of the project is to strengthen the national security infrastructure in the St Catherine North Police Division in order to satisfy the demand for effective policing services, which is being driven by population growth and unacceptable levels of criminal activities in the parish. The current police station at Burke Road, Spanish Town, cannot adequately serve the constituents, given the high levels of crime in the division. The new divisional headquarters is to be built on 217,894.9 square feet (or 20,243 square metres) of land at Darling Pen, Spanish Town, which borders the Spanish Town Bypass with the residential community of Tawes Meadows, further east. The three-storey building will have a footprint of 13,203 square metres and a total floor area of 43,200 square feet. The works will include main building, electrical room, garbage room, guard house, multi-purpose courts, sewage disposal, storm water drainage, paved areas, and boundary walls. Sustainable design features include rainwater harvesting, passive cooling, natural lighting, solar energy, and flexible floor plans.

On Tuesday, chairman of construction partners West Indies Home Contractors (WIHCON) Limited Peter Melhado said “we are going to move very quickly on this [construction project]”.

In noting that the “important undertaking… will strengthen our security infrastructure and improve the lives of so many people in the parish of St Catherine and its environs,” Melhado said WIHCON has placed its most experienced project manager on the project.

“We are doing two major developments in the area and I believe this project will have a kind of halo effect on the entire parish. So rest assured that we will apply our many years of construction experience to this task to ensure that we do justice to the striking aesthetic of the headquarters building. I almost would like to call it a campus rather than a headquarters and I daresay this is the first of its kind in the Caribbean,” he said.

Commissioner of Police Dr Kevin Blake, in his comments, said the police had “been anxiously awaiting the commencement of this important project”.

“Even though it took some time for us to get to this point, we are extremely happy that it is now being realised. This project and the major thrust in the renovating overall and constructing of over 160 of our facilities over the last six years is a true demonstration of the State’s commitment to support the transformation and renewal of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. We all recognise that a transformed and modern JCF is essential in tackling the challenges associated with ensuring public safety and citizen’s security,” he said.

Member of Parliament for St Catherine Central Olivia “Babsy” Grange, who said she has harped on the need to develop the area, said “this investment will certainly enhance the resurgence that we are witnessing in Spanish Town and across St Catherine”.

And National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, in pointing out that Spanish Town has built a reputation for high violence and gang activity, said the significant work by the police in reducing and disrupting the gangs will continue.

“We expect a new clinic beside it but also the commercial players are looking on how to build out in the area around that particular area,” Dr Chang said.