JUNCTION, St Elizabeth — Seventy members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) assigned to the St Elizabeth Police Division were on Thursday awarded and recognised for their outstanding performance and for their resilience during Hurricane Melissa.

Head of the St Elizabeth police Superintendent Coleridge Minto, while commending his team, encouraged them to double down on tackling criminal activity.

Minto noted that in 2025 the parish recorded 18 murders, the lowest figure in more than 25 years.

“And that is coming from 34 the previous year. While the data shows a significant downwards trend at the end of 2025 and in fact, each year it goes lower, we are now almost mid-year and the division has already recorded 10 murders,” Minto said during the function at the Junction Guest House.

“That is 10 too many lives that have been lost, so I charge the officers who are present that you need to double your efforts. We [will] look at other strategies, increase our intelligence in this space, and to ensure that our occupational trust is never predictable.

“We will have to continue to work with our stakeholders, our citizens, and our partners to ensure that those who are committing criminal activities [are brought] to justice,” said Minto.

“It is my commitment, as commanding officer, to ensure that we never surrender our communities to criminal elements. We will never do that and so I call on the citizens to work with the police as we continue to ensure that the division remains a safe one,” Minto added.

He said under the JCF’s push for ISO 2001 standards, two stations in the parish, Pedro Plains and Lacovia, are earmarked to be certified.

“As they prepare for their external audits, we are confident that the work that you have been putting in over the last two years will bear fruit and the consistency will be there. Pedro Plains is a model station and that station covers what we call community tourism…We will be meeting with the stakeholders in that geographic space… [and] thanks to the citizens we will be installing cameras across a number of roadways and areas to help with the surveillance of the space,” said Minto.

“I want to thank citizens for their support and to say to St Elizabeth, your partnership is important as we work with you to ensure that the division remains one of the safest parishes in the country,” he added.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who was the guest speaker at the awards ceremony, reminded members of the JCF of the ever changing environment in which they work.

Sykes pointed out that cops are working with new laws that they will have to become familiar with and enforce.

“So change is part of your environment… The new technologies that enable [change] while greatly convenient… also facilitates and enables new ways of sometimes committing old crimes, so you have to be able to adapt to that very quickly,” Sykes pointed out to the cops.

Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Area Three Christopher Phillips (left) presenting a basket filled with produce to Chief Justice Bryan Sykes (right), while head of the St Elizabeth Police Division Superintendent Coleridge Minto (second left) and Sergeant Albert Simpson, sub-officer in charge of the division’s Traffic Department look on. Kasey Williams