CROSS KEYS, Manchester — Residents in south Manchester and personnel at Cross Keys and Asia police stations in that section of the parish are facing a security crisis as they remain without telecommunications services three weeks after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

A credible source told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday that the police are appealing for assistance as they are left exposed with no form of communication by radio or telephone.

“The phones and radio are not working at the stations. We have no form of communication with them; if they even come under attack, we don’t even know. People calling the station and the phone [call] not going through. There is no water, [and] police living at the barracks cannot iron their clothes [because electrical power is still out],” the source said.

Former minister of national security and Opposition Senator Peter Bunting on Thursday appealed for help for the police stations.

“No light, radio or telephone communication. They transferred the prisoners from Asia to Mandeville, which was already overcrowded,” Bunting told the Jamaica Observer. “Unlike Alligator Pond, neither of these stations [in Asia and Cross Keys] have a generator, so one of the things I would make a call on is for the Ministry of National Security to immediately ensure that a generator is provided at these stations,” he said.

“They are responsible for the police who are first responders, especially in these deep-rural communities. They must get generators to those stations today. They cannot wait any longer; it is three weeks now. Most of the island was not affected as seriously as this so they could easily redeploy generators from other locations to assist in Cross Keys and Asia,” he said.

Bunting, who is an aspirant for the Opposition People’s National Party in Manchester Southern, said the situation is “unacceptable”.

“It unfair to the police personnel and workers who are manning those stations. The people in the areas served by those police stations have no way to contact the police in an emergency,” he stressed.

“In fact, the few who may be lucky enough to have a phone signal have to call Mandeville or Newport police station, who then have to respond with vehicles from as far as halfway across the parish, so it is completely unacceptable,” added Bunting.

He pointed to comments made by Energy Minister Daryl Vaz on losing confidence in Jamaica Public Service (JPS) over its response to electricity restoration since the Category 4 storm disrupted power supply on July 3.

“We know, and I said it three weeks ago. Now I see Minister Vaz coming out and confirming that the JPS performance is unacceptable, but from day one I made that statement when I saw on a bright, sunny day after the hurricane passed, all the bucket trucks were still parked at the New Green office of the JPS,” said Bunting.

“So much of the constituency still goes without power, without the lines being restored and, quite frankly, the citizens are miserable. It is unfair to them, and they are compromised even in terms of going to work and doing commerce,” added Bunting.

Kerry, a bar operator in Cross Keys, told the Observer that criminals are wreaking havoc in the area.“Everybody a suffer; right now we have more break-ins than anything else. A pure darkness. As a matter of fact, they are breaking in the day because they not waiting on night,” she said. “The police can only do so much and no more. We can’t call them because we have no phone signal, so if anything happen, we can’t call nobody at all,” she added. Bunting also claimed that criminals are being allowed to move freely under the cover of darkness in communities.

“What you are really allowing for is the free roaming of criminals in the parish and probably even [those crimninals] in adjacent parishes will quickly understand that this is a vulnerable situation. Many communities are vulnerable and exposed — and even where there are reprisals and potential counter-reprisals, that now is the time for this type of activity,” he said.

“Just think of that coastline from Clarendon in the east to Alligator Pond in the west. There is no communication up and down that coastline; it is there for smugglers. All of south Manchester is not being regularly patrolled, so the shopkeepers tell you that people feel very vulnerable because so many communities still don’t have light. The security situation is basically down to ‘every man for himself’, and hopefully if he has a good neighbour they can call. The police presence is completely ineffective in south Manchester,” added Bunting.

Five killings, including a double murder, have been committed in Manchester in the past two weeks, raising concerns over the trend of criminal activities in the south-central parish.

“The police have a term that they use — they talk about criminogenic environments which create more opportunities for criminals to operate freely and without fear. One of those are areas that are not well lit; it allows robbers to operate under the cloak of darkness and the risk of them being observed and apprehended is close to zero,” said Bunting.

“Add to that the inability of the police to respond from the nearest locations — which in this case of south Manchester would be Cross Keys and Asia, and to an extent the entire parish of Manchester. Because if Mandeville is really the station that is really trying to respond to calls from all over the parish, that divisional headquarters itself is going to be overstretched,” he added.