Police push to reduce domestic and interpersonal violence in St. James

 

 

The Jamaica Constabulary Force's Area One Community Safety and Security Branch is on a drive to reduce domestic violence incidents and interpersonal conflicts, which are adding to the murder tallies in the four divisions within Area One.

 

On Monday, the police engaged with members of the public in Sam Sharpe Square in Montego Bay, St. James, during an Anti-Domestic Violence Pop-Up Clinic.

 

The concern, in particular, is for St. James, where most of the murders committed since the start of the year have been the result of domestic violence and interpersonal conflicts.

 

Senior Superintendent Eron Samuels, Commanding Officer for St. James Police Division, says deadly incidents that are gang related stem from poor conflict resolution. 

 

"And we want to change that. If we want to bring St. James to the situation where we have way less than 50, even 20, 30 murders max for the year, we have to deal with our interpersonal conflict. We are at 50 murders since the start of the year and more than half of these murders are interpersonal or domestic in nature. So imagine we can cut that way down, we would definitely see a marked reduction in incidents. And finishing off 2026 and going into 2027, we want to impact this in a real way, where we can see the division moving the murder rate lower and lower and lower," he noted.

 

One of the deadly interpersonal conflicts that shocked St. James was the murder of a woman at the entrance to the Montego Bay New Testament Church of God on Water Lane in April.

 

SSP Samuels confirmed that Cora Thompson was killed over a property dispute. 

 

"It was regarding some land left by her spouse and interactions with family members that went bad. So we really want to show persons that there's another way, whether it's legally or through counselling or through some form of intervention that they can deal with their conflict. We understand that persons feel strongly about, you know, what's theirs or what's not theirs. But there is a better way rather than resorting to violence," he stressed.

 

The police are continuing their investigation into the Water Lane shooting for which no one has been arrested.