HEAD of the Kingston Central Police Division Superintendent Mischka Forbes is urging people who traverse downtown Kingston to carry fewer valuables as police continue their efforts to reduce robberies in the busy commercial hub.

Forbes said the appeal comes as police continue to grapple with offenders who target people carrying visible valuables, particularly phones, jewellery, and watches.

“I want to appeal to the persons coming into the downtown space, notwithstanding us putting the resources in place to try to keep them safe… We would want them — when they come — t0 come in with less valuables because… I know persons walking and talking on the phones in the space, persons with valuables such as jewellery, expensive jewellery — the chains, watches, and so forth — and so we would want to ask members of the public, when they come, come in with less valuables into the space,” Forbes said on the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Force4Good podcast.

She said police believe a relatively small group of offenders is responsible for much of the robberies and that the criminals work together to exploit gaps in police deployment.

According to Forbes, the offenders have also adapted to police movements, making it difficult for the cops to maintain coverage across the busy downtown space at all times.

“What we realise, it’s part of a syndicate, and so they work together, they watch the police in the space and so we realise the police will be standing at point A at any one minute and as soon as they move, that is when they pounce upon the unsuspecting victims,” she said.

Forbes said police have already increased deployment in downtown Kingston through collaboration with the Beat Officer Patrol Division out of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (P-STEB), but she acknowledged that the results have not yet met the division’s expectations.

“We want to see the numbers going down even lower and so we have gone back to the drawing board and very shortly we will be rolling out another initiative that we hope will see further success in terms of the robberies and the decline in the robberies,” she announced.

A screen grab of Superintendent Mischka Forbes, commander of the Kingston Central Police Division, speaking on the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Force4Good podcast about the division’s efforts to tackle robberies in downtown Kingston.

In the meantime, technology has become a major part of the division’s response. Area Four Commander Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Phipps said Kingston Central’s highly urban environment makes CCTV particularly valuable because police cannot have a cop physically monitoring every street and corner.

He said CCTV cameras, including the JamaicaEye network and private cameras, are being used to monitor public spaces and assist investigators after crimes have occurred.

Forbes said the technology has already proved useful in both murder and robbery investigations. She pointed to an interpersonal murder in Allman Town which was quickly cleared using available CCTV footage, while cameras across the wider downtown area have also assisted police in pursuing robbery suspects.

The focus on robbery comes even as Kingston Central has made significant progress in reducing murders.

Forbes said the division recorded five murders in the first six months of the year, compared with 10 during the corresponding period last year — a 50 per cent reduction.

She said interpersonal conflicts remain a significant contributor to the division’s murder tally, despite the relative absence of regular gang violence.

Forbes said the murder reduction has been achieved through a combination of strategies, including focused deterrence, rapid intervention in disputes and Operation Blade, which targets people with knives and other offensive weapons.