High Praises for Police Operations in Resort Towns

In a show of solidarity, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are being commended by stakeholders in several resort towns for the restoration and maintenance of public order on their streets.

In both Montego Bay, St. James (‘Restoring Paradise, a Public Order Reset’) and Ocho Rios, St. Ann (‘Operation Leviticus’), the police are being praised for what stakeholders, which include tourism entities, residents, craft traders, shop owners, bus drivers, etc., see as a proactive approach carried out with patience, professionalism, and effective communication.

“I am all for public order and discipline, and I must say the police have been doing an excellent job and must be commended,” Owner Taj Mahal Plaza (Ocho Rios), businessman Sanju Chatani, tells JIS News.

“Policing in a resort town where our officers are faced with the task of manning both local and tourism entities has never been easy. It is against this background that when we see an initiative like Operation Leviticus, aimed at restoring law and order in the public space, we must lend our support and let our officers know that we are behind them 100%.”

Mr. Chatani said it is his fervent wish that the current operation can be sustained where Ocho Rios and by extension the entire St. Ann become the place where communities can continue to feel safe and where “investors will always want to come and do business”.

For Double V Plaza’s (Pineapple, Ocho Rios) owner Colin Mills, keeping the streets and parish safe must be a main priority of law enforcement, adding that the 18 per cent increase in crime overall in St Ann, when compared to the corresponding period last year, was troubling on several fronts.

“Totally unacceptable, and I am happy with the way the police have responded,” he noted. “Without safe communities and streets, we cannot operate business and send our children to school… . Something had to be done.”

Dunn’s River Craft Market President, Devon Mitchell, had a similar response.

“Of course, I am on the side of law and order… and lots of respect to the hardworking men and women of the [JCF],” he noted.

“We as businesspeople and residents must continue to do our part and to lend our support to keeping the peace and keeping our communities safe from crime and mayhem.”

The police in St Ann have launched ‘Operation Leviticus’ aimed at restoring law and order in Ocho Rios and other towns and communities in the parish.

In noting that the term was coined from the Old Testament in the Bible, the book which details laws for the people of Israel, Superintendent David Whyte, said Operation Leviticus is already bearing fruit and has resulted in several wanted persons being held.

“We are going to look at specific areas in St Ann, dealing with the traffic management situation, our death spots in terms of fatal accidents. In the town of Ocho Rios, we will ramp up operations in that space. It’s going to be public order, so illegal vending on the sidewalk and such will be targeted; the bus park and those criminal elements who are coming out of other places and so on, we’ll be pursuing those,” he told reporters recently.

He said that troubled areas such as Parry Town, Steer Town, and Brown’s Town will also get special attention during the operation, adding that lottery scammers and wanted persons are being sought.

Over in Montego Bay, plaudits for the police and their handling of ‘Restoring Paradise, a Public Order Reset’ couldn’t be higher.

“It would be difficult to find any fault with the police and their handling of what could have been a risky operation,” said tour bus driver Everald Green.

“This was clearly a well-planned operation, and… .was executed to near perfection. Very impressed with what we have been seeing on the streets of Montego Bay.”

Gas station operator Sheldon Adams tells JIS News that the daily mayhem and chaos in front of his store has somewhat ceased “but miles from what it used to be.

“I am just hoping that this operation will have legs,” he added. “What we are seeing and have been seeing are glimpses of where we can reach. Let’s keep this momentum going.”

Garfield Dussard, of Garfield’s Diving, said credit must also go to Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang and Commissioner of Police, Antony Anderson.

“If this had gone very wrong then we know where the criticisms would have been levied,” he told a gathering of businesspersons in Montego Bay recently.

Mr. Dussard, whose diving operations are also in Negril, Falmouth and Ocho Rios, said he is hoping that what has been taking place in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay can be replicated in all the major towns across the island. He added that it could well be a successful roadmap to ensuring and maintaining law and order.