MONTEGO BAY, St James — Though murders in the parish have remained above last year’s figures for the past few months, head of the St James Police Division Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels has assured residents there is no need to worry. He pointed out that the numbers are well below what they have been in the not so distant past.

“Last year this time we were at 30 and we are [now] at 37. Nothing to be alarmed about because if you really think back, four years ago we would’ve been at 140-plus at this time,” he told Thursday’s regular monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation.

The police chief once again attributed the increase to individuals struggling to adequately resolve domestic disputes.

“We have seen an increase in our interpersonal incidents right across the parish and those incidents have seen us having seven additional murders compared to last year,” he noted.

Samuels highlighted his team’s ongoing efforts to rein in crime, while also acknowledging stakeholders’ role in supporting those efforts.

“You have to look at crime not [as] just what the police does but if everybody does their roles, it makes it easier for us to police; and it also allows for more law and order to be maintained,” he said.

The senior cop explained that the police are now turning their attention to the eight-event Dream Wknd, which is set to begin at the end of this month.

“This will see thousands of persons descending on the parish of St James. This time you won’t see only the hotels being full but in the communities a lot of the Airbnbs are slated to become a main staple for places for persons to stay,” Samuels pointed out.

“We will be pushing hard to ensure that our presence is felt right across the parish and we are asking for residents to work with us. If you see anything that is untoward let us know early,” he appealed.

Samuels also revealed that traffic management during the event period will be strengthened by additional personnel assigned to the parish.

“Most of the events will be held along the Elegant Corridor: the Convention Centre, Aqueduct, Rose Hall Beach and I think the main event that will be held in the town would be at Pier One,” he said.

“This will see us really pushing hard to ensure that, both from persons coming from outside of the parish into the parish and those moving in and around, we will assist in moving things smoothly,” said Samuels.

He explained that special attention would also be given to the airport, where thousands of visitors are expected to arrive during the slate of activities.

“As it stands, we are very optimistic that we will have a very safe week of activities leading right into the Independence celebrations,” he declared.

Turning to events outside of Dream Wknd, he said the police are looking to work more closely with communities to help stimulate income generating activity as crime continues to trend down in several areas of the parish.

“I am confident that St James will start seeing an uptick in economic activity and we are doing our part, as the police, to ensure that in the communities they can start having events,” he assured.

“We are looking at a new protocol that we are doing to ensure that communities that would normally be a little bit more apprehensive to having events, that we can monitor those events a little bit more to ensure that we spread the economic activity there in terms of events. But they will have to be properly monitored by the police,” he cautioned.