A police officer who also serves as a pastor on Sunday issued a fiery warning to gunmen that if they refuse to lay down their weapons they should be prepared to “bite rock stone”.

Inspector Junior Roswess delivered the blistering message during an energetic sermon at God Family Ministries International Church in St Andrew, where members of the St Andrew North Police Division gathered for a special service of worship and unity.

Pointing to the division’s success in 2025 — marked by a significant reduction in murders and other violent crimes — Roswess made it clear that the police are relentless in their resolve. According to him, law enforcers will stop at nothing to secure equal or greater crime-fighting gains this year, sending a clear signal that violence will not be tolerated in the division.

Noting that the theme of his sermon was ‘Engage, Educate, Empower and Enforce’, Inspector Roswess said, “We will educate you when we see you doing wrong. We will educate the gangs to turn in their weapons of mass destruction. If you don’t take heed to the education, then we, as the police, have the responsibility to take the required actions. My father always said, ‘Who cannot hear will feel, and hard ears pickney bite rock stone.’ If you nuh hear, well, you are going to bite the rock stone.”

The inspector highlighted that in 2025 the St Andrew North Division achieved a 50 per cent reduction in murders when compared to all of 2024. The division also achieve a 25 per cent reduction in shootings, a 35 per cent reduction in rapes, and a significant cut in car theft, among other achievements.

He said those achievements could not have been possible without God’s hand being in the fight against crime.

Roswess said that in the middle of 2025, crime numbers were going in the wrong direction in the division, but the police never lost faith in God, who intervened.

Between January 1 and 17 this year, St Andrew North Division recorded zero murders, compared to two in the corresponding period in 2025.

Over the January 1 to 17 period this year, a total of 22 murders were recorded nationwide, 18 fewer than the same period last year.

“I am sure that we achieved this with the help of God and man because we engage, educate, empower, and enforce. Today it is very fitting, and I am honoured to be a part of the St Andrew North team. There were times when I was in meetings with my commander, Superintendent Randy Sweeney, and I am always proud when I hear him attribute our successes to the help of God. Colleagues, I want you to know that you are not just police officers, but you are also ministers of order, justice, and peace,” he told his congregation.

“As police officers, we are also called to Godly service, courage, and compassion. You are always standing in the gap between good and evil, oppression and depression, success and failure, peace and war, and standing in the gap between a baby being born on the streets or in a hospital. You are standing in the gap between life and death. You are that bridge that makes or breaks a situation,” Roswess said.

“One of my foundational texts for this message is taken from Romans 13 verse 4 which says, ‘For he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, because he beareth not the sword in vain.’

“Police officers carry not their firearms in vain; police officers are ministers of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil — the gunman, the knifeman, the rapists, the thieves, etc. What this is saying to me is that civil government is God-ordained, meant to promote good and restrain evil. People of God, and all those under the sound of my voice, we should seek to honour God by respecting rightful authority, benefiting from its protection, and recognising that the State’s power to punish is divine. It is a divine trust He said.”

Roswess implored his colleagues to see their police identification cards not just as a piece of plastic, but as a symbol of commitment that they will continue to put country over self.

“It is a symbol of saying, ‘no retreat, no surrender against lawlessness and criminality’.”

A policewoman from the St Andrew North Police Division raises her hand in praise to God on Sunday during a special worship service at God Family Ministries International Church in St Andrew. (Photo: Jason Cross)