JCF Assures Of Adequate Security For Christmas

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) says adequate security personnel will be deployed to ensure the safety and security of citizens during the busy Christmas period.

Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Friday (December 10), Head of the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gary McKenzie, said members of the JCF will be out in their numbers to enforce the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA) and maintain public order as Jamaicans get ready to celebrate the Yuletide season.

“In our plans and activities as police officers, we generally put more persons on the roadways and … we ask many of our officers who do administrative work to be out on the streets to complement the police officers who are already on operational activities,” he noted.

ACP McKenzie said that non-geographic personnel, meaning those who do not operate in divisions, are also engaged at this time of the year to shore-up the number of boots on the ground.

“For example, when we look at Narcotics, the Criminal Investigation Branch, they are engaged and there is an extra effort to have police officers out there on duty,” he noted.

ACP McKenzie said the JCF anticipates heightened security concerns at banks and other commercial areas where there is increased exchange of cash, goods, and services, and will ensure that the areas are saturated with police personnel.

Measures are also in place to address the expected increase in vehicular traffic on the roadways, which can lead to accidents.

“What we do is to ensure that there is more presence from traffic officers, from highway patrol, and we do a lot of speed checks. We know that it is happy season and persons tend to drink a little more and so our breathalyzer enforcement activities are also heightened. We enforce this by ensuring that we are occupying our main and arterial roads and we carry out our breathalyzer checks,” ACP McKenzie told JIS News.

He is encouraging persons to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols.

“We know that we are operating within the ambit of a pandemic and the issue of protecting ourselves is also important as we enforce the DRMA. We are appealing to persons, as they move around, to keep your distance of six-feet and wear your masks,” he urged.