Prime Minister Andrew Holness
A police officer stops a vehicle at an SOE check point in St. Catherine on Friday. (Photo by Devon Fletcher)
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Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson and Chief of Defence Staff Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman
A State of Public Emergency has been declared for St. Catherine.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the announcement during a virtual news conference this morning.
The enhanced security measure comes three days after gangsters clashed in the market district in Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
In anticipation of criticism about the use of the security measure, Mr. Holness said the Government had to act; it could not "sit by and see innocent Jamaicans going about their business, on their way to work or from the market and scurrying for their lives".
But in acting, he assured that the government would remain "within the boundaries of our laws and our Constitution" and rely on the courts for guidance and interpretation.
Mr. Holness reiterated that the government's first responsibility is the preservation and protection of life, adding that it must "ensure that the average citizen feels safe and secure".
The Prime Minister said he worried that the country had come to accept the entrenchment of organised criminal activities as normal.
He argued that perhaps many did not understand and appreciate the level of organisation there is to crime, noting that "once it reaches that level, it is not your normal law enforcement that has to treat with that [but] the state has to be given exceptional powers to treat with that".
Public safety at risk
From January 1 to June 15, there were 128 murders in St. Catherine.
Police Commissioner Major General Anthony Anderson said the high level of violent crimes in the parish, particularly over the last two months, has risen to a scale that endangers public safety.
General Anderson said intra and inter-gang conflicts have spread to the families of gangsters, resulting in injuries and deaths.
The commissioner, who was speaking at the media briefing on Friday morning, gave a breakdown of murders and shootings in the St. Catherine North and St. Catherine South police divisions.
He disclosed that, since January, 82 people have been arrested for illegal possession of firearm, ammunition or both, while 59 illegal guns have been seized.
Despite the police leading several active community engagement programmes across the parish, General Anderson noted that 70 murders and 51 shootings have been recorded as at June 15 in the St. Catherine North Division - a 52 per cent and 76 per cent increase, respectively, when compared to the similar period in 2021.
Some 58 murders have been recorded in the St. Catherine South Police Division, the same as last year, while there have been 53 shootings, 10 more than in 2021.
But General Anderson said the violence in the St. Catherine North Division has spread to St. Catherine South, resulting in an increase in murders and shootings.
Just six weeks ago, he pointed out, the St. Catherine South Division had been experiencing a reduction in murders by 40 per cent. Now, crime from the northern section of the parish has extended to southern areas, including Portmore and Old Harbour.
It is for this reason the commissioner said the security forces recommended the state of emergency, since they have "demonstrated through previous SOEs that this methodology has been very effective in quickly reducing violent crimes."
So far, several men have been detained in operations under the State of Public Emergency.
Chief of Defence Staff Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman said the boundaries of the State of Public Emergency extend across the entire St. Catherine.
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