NORWOOD, St James — Security Minister Dr Horace Chang has announced that the police will resume issuing permits for parties in the Norwood community but he has warned that any reports of gun salutes at these events will result in the immediate suspension of all future permits.

Norwood, located in the St James North Western constituency where Chang serves as Member of Parliament, was declared a zone of special operations (ZOSO) on June 20, 2021, as part of efforts to reduce crime and restore order in the area.

Speaking on Sunday night at a forum put on by the Norwood Community Development Committee to celebrate no murders in the area for 2024, Chang underscored that he is not opposed to music but “there are many ways to celebrate without using gunfire”.

“The police [have] started allowing some parties. We have hundreds of people in Bottom Pen [Glendevon] attending a futsal, we have party in Flanker, and I know that the ground commanders up here looking at giving some permits. But you cannot have gun celebration after dance finish. If that happens we going to have to stop giving the permit,” Chang cautioned.

“This minister has no intention of interrupting our culture, music and entertainment. I’ve spent money to put music up in schools — and I want to see how we can expand it — but we cannot make gunfire a part of the celebration.

“That is alien to Jamaica, alien to our people. We don’t make guns in Jamaica. We play music and a little sports, and we need to maintain that. So, we have to just get it across to all our friends in the community: We cannot start to break the peace by having gunfire after sessions. Celebrate otherwise,” added Chang.

Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ainsley McCarthy, ground commander of the Norwood and Mount Salem ZOSOs, told the Jamaica Observer that permits for entertainment events in Norwood were suspended when the enhanced security measure was declared in the community two months shy of four years ago.

“As a result of the high crime rate we had to protect people’s lives, because before the zone [of special operations] started we had persons who were killed at parties, where parties were shot up and stuff like that. So, we had to suspend those events to bring back calm and stability to the space.

“Now that we have gotten calm and stability we have decided that we can entertain events from citizens, properly policed, to ensure that everybody is safe,” said DSP McCarthy.

Businesswoman Raquel “Nats” Faulkner, who operates a bar in the community, welcomed news of the resumption of permits to host parties.

“Getting party permits is a good thing because we are trying to get back the place together because the place is on a lockdown — and that’s not what it used to be like before. I own a bar and from time to time I promote an event like a car wash party, a Norwood Night Out, or something — as a business person you come up with different ideas. So, that would be a plus for the community,” Faulkner told the Observer.

She declared that the people who support her events are not among those who would engage in gun salutes.

The forum was held under the theme: ‘Zero murders 2024: Sustaining a Crime-Free 2025’.

Also in attendance were Omar Sweeney, managing director, Jamaica Social Investment Fund; representatives of Jamaica Defence Force and Jamaica Constabulary Force; as well as representatives of Government ministries, departments and agencies.