KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness has praised the residents of St Elizabeth for the significant reduction in murders in the parish this year.

“I was informed this morning that the parish continues to do well from the last time I got an update last month that there is only one murder reported in the parish and that you are tracking 80 per cent behind where you were last year, and these are some amazing statistics. It goes to show that peace is achievable, peace is possible, none of you here, I can say with a great sense of certainty is causing, creating and contributing to crime and violence in your parish. It is but a few, maybe less than one per cent of the population who are the cause of criminality and violence,” Holness said.

He was speaking at the commissioning ceremony for the Runnit and Middle Quarters Pipeline projects in the parish on Friday.

Holness further urged residents of St Elizabeth to work collaboratively with the police to tackle crime in the parish.

“Rise up in unison as one, support our police officers and our police officers in turn must treat the people with respect as we have seen here in the parish, and form a bond, an unbreakable bond that locks out the criminal, that throws them out of your parish and then we will have a sustainable peace. It requires all of you to be wardens of this peace. What we have achieved in the parish can continue if all of you here commit to working with the police to share information with the police because you recognise it is not in your interest to keep the very small number of troublemakers in your community, throw them out, push them out and the police knows how to take care of them justly and appropriately,” he argued.

According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) serious crime report, the parish recorded one murder up to March 8 of this year, when compared to eight murders last year. This is an 87.5 per cent reduction in homicides.