FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Members of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) have backed a resolution received from their St James counterparts for the celebration of June 8 as Police Day in the parish, in recognition of the the work of the cops in drastically lowering crime last year.

But the consensus among the Trelawny councillors was for the St James Municipal Corporation to consider a national celebration instead as murders declined islandwide.

The resolution, read during the regular monthly meeting of the TMC, was brought by deputy mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Dwight Crawford, to designate a day in honour of members of the police force.

In 2025, Jamaica recorded 673 murders, representing a significant 31-year low and falling below 700 for the first time in more than three decades. This marked a roughly 43 per cent reduction in homicides compared to the 1,141 in 2024. There were 58 people murdered in St James during 2025, down by 67 when compared to the 125 individuals killed in 2024.

“I support it, but just that I believe that it should be wider. So can we send it back with a note to say while we support we would rather it done on a national scale?” asked mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the TMC, C Junior Gager.

“We in Trelawny, we are also benefiting [from the reduction in murders] and I am sure the other neighbouring parishes would have benefited. So I believe maybe it should go a little wider than that,” he added.

Minority leader in the TMC, Councillor Garth Wilkinson (People’s National Party, Falmouth Division) was also in support of the motion to designate June 8 as Police Day across the country.

“Let me welcome the resolution. This should be done nationally rather than resolution done at a council level because the reduction affects the entire country. It did not affect just a parish, it affected an entire country. We all realised what happened with all the reduction. We know the murder rate went down…it affected the entire country. It did not affect just a parish. Let us deal with it nationally rather than deal with it as a parish,” Wilkinson agreed.

Deputy mayor of Falmouth Jonathan Bartley, who was also in full support of the resolution, argued that the celebration of the day should at least be extended to the Area One Police Division.

“The problem I have with the resolution is that they should say the area that it falls in. There’s an ACP [assistant commissioner of police] in charge of the Area One with Trelawny, St James, Westmoreland, and Hanover. So I suggest that instead of saying St James, they should say Area One, which would actually cover those adjoining parishes that the mayor spoke about,” Bartley stated.

For his part Councillor Dunstan Harper (Jamaica Labour Party, Sherwood Content Division), who also supported the resolution, argued that its name should be tweaked to Jamaica Constabulary Day, instead of Police Day.

In bringing the discussion to a close, Gager theorised that other municipalities would be willing to celebrate the achievement of members of the police force on the designated day.

He noted that the St James Municipal Corporation would still be credited for the idea “and they should advocate for a national day to honour the cops”.

“We not taking anything away from them. They could be the ones championing it and widening, it, it is their job,” Gager said.

Deputy mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Jonathan Bartley speaks with the Jamaica Observer after the monthly meeting of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.

Minority leader of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, Councillor Garth Wilkinson on the sidelines of last Thursday’s monthly meeting.

Councillor Dunstan Harper on the sidelines of last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.