ST JAMES, Jamaica — The St James Police Division has revealed that there has been a marginal increase in murders in the parish this year, when compared with the corresponding period last year.

The disclosure was made by commanding officer of the division, Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, during the regular monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation, on Thursday.

“As it stands now we are at 18 murders compared to 17 last year, so we are one more than where we were last year, which was an extremely good year,” he disclosed.

However, he was quick to highlight that despite the increase, the division has made strides over the course of last month where having recorded 16 murders in February, there were only two homicides in March.

“As it stands, the division, I believe, is in good stead. We are seeing a slight increase, we have brought the numbers down but we seeing a slight increase in incidents,” he explained.

He placed the blame for these incidents at the foot of interpersonal challenges that have risen to the level of murder.

“We are still battling with the domestic disputes and those interactions causing incidents,” he stated, as he promised renewed vigour in tackling the murder monster.
Despite the challenges, the senior superintendent made it clear that the division is expecting a reduction in homicides in short order.

“Our intention is to push as hard as we can so that we are in the negative hopefully before the end of the month,” he declared.

“We believe that with the cooperation of the members of the public and the continued work of the hardworking men and women of the police here in St James, we will have that done.”