MANDEVILLE, Jamaica—Police in south-central Jamaica say the slight increase in murders across Area Three which covers Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth is being tackled, and a reduction in homicides is anticipated over the next few months.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips, in comparing crime statistics including murders so far this year against the same period last year, said Area Three has recorded 11 more homicides.

“We have reduced by 23 cases in serious and violent crimes. A 13 per cent reduction when we look at the corresponding period for 2025. Albeit murder increased by 11 cases and shooting by one. All other crimes are down,” Phillips said on Wednesday at a Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) biannual stakeholder meeting in Mandeville.

“We are not daunted though by that slight increase in murders across the area. We are committed to the task at hand. We know what this means for our communities. The commanders are determined to pull back even by the second quarter on these levels of murders and shootings that we have been having especially for the month of February where we saw 18 such cases of murder,” added Phillips.

Police statistics show that up to March 21, Manchester recorded nine murders compared to five last year, St Elizabeth recorded seven murders compared to two over the same period in 2025, and Clarendon recorded 11 murders compared to nine for the corresponding period last year.

Phillips said there have been three murders recorded in Area Three so far in March.

“We hope to finish this month with that low number. We are determined to fix those things,” he assured his audience.

But Phillips raised an alarm over the number of fatal crashes across the three parishes so far this year.

“We are seeing a bit of an uptick in that we had 16 fatal motor vehicle collisions, which resulted in 20 persons losing their lives, and so the whole matter of driver behaviour on the road out there is still a concern for us,” he said.

“We are looking into this. We are doing the analysis. We realise mostly on Fridays we have most of our cases into the weekends in terms of these fatal collisions and it is of concern. We are [placing] our teams out there to have greater impact as we progress to see how best we can help to control that,” added Phillips.

SRHA Director Michael Bent welcomed the efforts of the police in crime fighting and traffic policing.

“Violent crime impacts health significantly in terms of the use of resources, whether it is blood or staff or pushing back surgeries, so we are happy when we see the reduction in violent crimes. We are hoping that people will take heed,” said Bent.

—Kasey Williams