ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica— Superintendent Coleridge Minto, who is in charge of St Elizabeth in championing the parish’s 34 per cent drop in major crimes this year, pointed to some strategies the police have implemented that resulted in the reduction.

He was speaking to business owners at the New Market Preparatory School in the parish on Wednesday when he gave the statistics.

“To date, we have seen 223 major crimes recorded in the parish, and this is compared to 337 for this similar period. This, ladies and gentlemen, is showing a reduction of 114 major crimes, or 34 per cent,” Minto said.

Superintendent Coleridge Minto, who is in charge of St Elizabeth

He went on to highlight the lower crime rate on New Market specifically, stating that of the 223 major crimes reported, the area accounts for 11, with two of those reported being murders. Minto further informed that with only 11 crimes reported so far this year, it is a reduction from the same period last year when 16 major crimes were recorded.

He said while the community is a peaceful one, “11 crimes, is still 11 too many”.

The superintendent said that since implementing a beat patrol in New Market in October no major crimes have been reported.

“We have since implemented, in October of this year, a beat patrol in the town of New Market, and since then, we have not had any major crime reported in this area. We have, however, seen some areas of concerns which we want to speak of— domestic disputes, threats, conflicts, and conflicts that could potentially lead to violence,” Minto said.

“And so I appeal to the citizens of this area to utilise the services of our domestic violence centre and the restorative justice center that are located in the Santa Cruz area in the parish, and they serve all communities,” he added.

Minto further stated that the police plan to implement other initiatives including police youth clubs in the parish, something he hopes to begin in New Market.

“I would love to see, in this community, that we can implement a police youth club, also, citizens association, or neighbourhood watch. We have those that we offer under the umbrella of the community safety and security section of the division, and so we are willing to speak to you further and to help you to establish neighbourhood watches,” he said.