PM Announces SOE For St. Catherine

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has announced a State of Public Emergency (SOE) for the parish of St. Catherine.

At a virtual press conference on Friday morning (June 17), Mr. Holness said he advised the Governor-General to declare the SOE based on the recommendation of the Chief of Defence Staff and the Commissioner of Police.

This is as a result of the high level of crime in the parish, particularly murders, over the past months.

Prime Minister Holness said that the preservation and protection of life is the first responsibility of the Government.

“The main cause of violence that creates the kind of fear, indeed terror, that we are seeing in some communities is as a result of the organised criminal activity of gangs and guns and the young men in particular that they recruit.

“The Government of Jamaica cannot sit by and see innocent Jamaicans going about their business on their way to work or from the market and having to be scurrying for their lives. The Government has to act; that is the Government’s responsibility,” he said.

Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, said that the high level of violent crimes being experienced in St. Catherine, particularly over the last two months, has risen to a scale and nature that greatly endangers public safety.

He said that “organised and highly violent criminal gang affiliates and breakaway factions [are] engaged in deadly inter- and intra-gang conflicts. These conflicts have reached the stage where family members, including the parents of gangsters, have been killed in reprisals and counter-reprisals”.

Commissioner Anderson said that the parish has 12 active gangs in conflict, which can result in murders and shootings at any given time.

Since the beginning of the year, 82 persons have been arrested for illegal possession of firearm, ammunition or both, with 59 illegal guns seized, which is an increase of 28 per cent compared to 2021.

As at June 15, the St. Catherine North Division has recorded 70 murders and 51 shootings, representing increases of 52 per cent and 76 per cent, respectively, when compared to the similar period in 2021.

In the St. Catherine South Division, 58 murders were recorded for the period, which is the same as last year, and there were 53 shootings, representing an increase of 23 per cent over the 43 recorded last year.

“Six weeks ago, the St. Catherine South Division was experiencing a reduction in murders by 40 per cent. The recent conflicts in the St. Catherine North Division have extended themselves into the southern section of the parish to include Portmore and Old Harbour… . An SOE at this time will allow us the opportunity to optimise available resources, in particular the support from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF),” the Commissioner said.

He noted that the police continue to prosecute gangs and gang members and are leading several active community engagement programmes across the parish.

Chief of Defence Staff, Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, assured citizens that the “JDF will operate within the parameters of their training and resources to ensure the protection of the human rights of all Jamaicans”.

The boundaries of the SOE are north, extending in a westerly direction along the shared borders of St. Catherine, St. Mary and St. Ann to the point of intersection of St. Catherine and Clarendon.

To the east, the boundary starts at the easternmost point of St. Catherine at the coastal intersection of the parish boundaries of St. Catherine and St. Andrew. The eastern boundary then extends in a northwesterly direction along the shared parish boundaries of St. Catherine, St. Andrew and St. Mary.

To the south, the boundary continues along the entire coast of St. Catherine and back to the easternmost point of the shared coastal boundary of St. Catherine and St. Andrew.

To the west, the boundary extends in a southeasterly direction along the shared parish boundary of St. Catherine and Clarendon to the coast.

SOEs give the security forces temporary additional powers, including powers of search, arrest and detention.

During an SOE, the security forces have the power to search, curtail operating hours of business, restrict access to places and detain persons without a warrant.