MONTEGO BAY, St James — Heartened by the continued drop in major crimes, police in this western city have indicated that every effort will be made to facilitate the staging of community events that many residents rely on to generate income.

“Events seem to be a great part of the economy and we want to, as best as possible, work with the communities so that they can have their entertainment and economic activities safely,” police chief for the parish, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, told Thursday’s monthly council meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

He noted that equally important as having peaceful communities is the need for event hosts to go through the right channels.

“What we have recognised over the years is that some violent incidents have occurred within these illegal parties and so we want to ensure the structure is there,” explained Samuels.

“As long as they are upright citizens and the location is safe and all the relevant authorities are in the loop, we have no issues with ensuring that parties are kept and properly policed over the period,” he assured.

He provided data to show that serious crimes are down for consecutive months.

“I am happy to report that the St James division is still doing fairly well as it relates to crime. We have 57.5 per cent reduction in murders, which sees us at 41 murders compared to 96 this time last year, which is 55 less murders in the division,” the senior cop said.

However, while he pointed to the positives, he revealed that there was still an issue that the police are working hard to tackle.

“We are seeing, however, an uptick in robberies — not just in St James, but across several parishes. We have done some work and we have caught some of the members of that gang, but there are still some persons outstanding that still continue to give us one and two issues,” Samuels said.

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