By Chris Patterson
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – The State of Public Emergency (SOE) have been hailed as an effective crime-fighting tool by Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson.
He noted that the enhanced security measures have an immediate impact on the reduction of homicides.
The police commissioner said that the seven parishes across the island, where SOEs were in effect from November 15 to 29, recorded an overall 64 percent decline in murders at the end of the 14-day period.
“That is 17 murders compared to 47 that were recorded 14 days prior. In the seven days since the SOEs ended nationally, 22 murders have already been recorded, 17 of which have been in the divisions where the SOEs were declared,” he pointed out.
The SOEs were in effect in Clarendon, St Catherine, St James, Westmoreland, Hanover, and sections of Kingston and St. Andrew
Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, at a press conference at the office of the prime minster earlier this week, announced the reimposition of SOEs in the parishes, along with St Ann and the St Andrew Central police division, for an initial 14 days.
Major General Anderson, in his remarks at the press conference, said the use of the emergency powers will be essential over the next six weeks to meet all the security demands that are a feature of the Christmas season.
“As we move into the 2022 Christmas Season, which is the first Christmas since 2019 that we will be without [COVID-19] restrictions, the demands on us will increase. The need for greater presence in commercial spaces to prevent robberies, increase public order and traffic management requirements, the large number of permitted events, which is 1,892 so far, and the occurrence of non-permitted events, will create significant strain on our resources,” he noted.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, informed that during the last declared SOEs, there were approximately 2,413 deployments by the JDF to provide support to the police.
The number, she said, was an overall increase of 181 percent when compared to the 14 days prior to the declaration of the SOEs.
“For the period under review, the increased deployment resulted in a 64 percent decrease in murders and a 46 decrease in shootings,” she noted.
She urged law-abiding citizens to see these enhanced security measures as an opportunity to join the fight against criminality and curb the violence in the nation.
Minister of national security, Dr Horace Chang, for his part, said that the SOE measure aims to protect the lives of the Jamaican people.
“The regulations that have been criticised have been reconfigured so that the law-abiding citizens will be protected and the lawless restricted in a manner that is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,” he said.
