There was a tense standoff between the security forces and residents in Quickstep on Saturday.
There was a tense standoff between the security forces and residents in Quickstep on Saturday after a team from the Forestry Department was prevented from leaving the community.
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Accompong Maroons chief Richard Currie and Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, head of the JCF's Corporate Communications Unit
Radio Jamaica News understands that the Jamaica Constabulary Force has expressed an interest in speaking with Chief Richard Currie of the Accompong Maroons in St. Elizabeth.
This follows an incident on Saturday, in a forest area in Quickstep, located on the border of North East Elizabeth and Southern Trelawny.
In that incident, a joint police military team responded to a call that workers from the Foresty Department had been unable to leave that location since about 2 p.m. Friday, after the road was blocked by felled trees and stones.
The security forces, led by head of the St. Elizabeth Police Division Superintendent Coleridge Minto were successful in escorting the eight-member Forestry Department team from the location.
The roadblock by members of the community is said to have stemmed from a longstanding dispute over logging operations.
It's understood that the Forestry Department team was undertaking a seizure operation of recently cut logs, however, residents believed the team wanted the logs for personal gain.
This led to a standoff.
Meanwhile, an incensed Chief Currie on Saturday blasted the authourities over their handling of the reported dispute.
Mr. Currie took to social media, accusing the Forestry Department of being "the one who is actually lumbering our forest" - an issue he said has been long-standing.
Mr. Currie said he was contacted Saturday by Superintendent Minto about the standoff, but admitted that he did not know about the incident at the time because of the lack of telecommunication service in the area.
"He said, 'Okay, see if you can find out what's going on because some persons have been blocked in.' I said to you, this would not be the first time this has happened, Superintendent. You should check the records to see what happened the last time why persons were blocked in, in Quickstep," he recounted.
He said he then went to investigate what was happening in the community and to meet with the police, including Superintendent Minto, who expressed his displeasure over the roadblock.
The tense standoff was later de-escalated.
But Mr. Currie has accused the authorities of not directly engaging with the Maroons, which would have averted Saturday's standoff.
In an interview with Radio Jamaica News on Sunday, Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, head of the JCF's Corporate Communications Unit, said Mr. Currie has been listed as a person of interest.
She said he is being asked to report to the police by 10 o'clock Monday as part of the ongoing investigation into the incident in which the Forestry Department team was barricaded in the Quickstep community from Friday into Saturday.
The police have also identified others they will be pursuing as part of the probe.
SSP Lindsay said it is "very likely" that persons will be charged in relation to the incident "because [the police] consider what happened to be a very serious breach and it really put the lives of those inviduals at risk".
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