Norwood Celebrates Zero Murders in 2024

With the Norwood community in St. James recording zero murders in 2024, Minister of National Security, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, joined the Norwood Community Development Committee and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) on April 6, to celebrate the milestone.

The community recorded eight murders in 2023.

During the celebratory forum held at the Norwood Sports Complex, Dr. Chang, who is also Member of Parliament for St. James North West, said that in addition to Norwood’s milestone, the constituency and the parish saw a massive decline in murders.

“I really want to join the celebration of one year without a single murder in Norwood and a year in which the murder rate in St. James is currently at 60 per cent below what it was last year, and if we were to take it in the context of the Montego Bay area, and St. James North West… it may be about 80 per cent below where it used to be,” the Minister noted.

Dr. Chang highlighted that several community members had looked forward to such a milestone, as most of the residents are law-abiding citizens.

“Most people in Norwood were not involved in criminal violence. So, today we celebrate this and hope we can sustain this, because we must get out a message not only of hope but sustainability,” he added.

The Minister said that due to the drastic reduction of crime in the community, the police are set to resume the issuing of party permits. However, he warned that should there be any reports of gun salutes at the events, the issuing of permits will cease.

“This Minister has no intention of interrupting our culture, music and entertainment. I’ve spent money to put music up in schools, and I want to see how we can expand it, but we cannot make gunfire a part of the celebration,” he underscored.

“That is alien to Jamaica, alien to our people. We don’t make guns in Jamaica. We play music and a little sport, and we need to maintain that. So, we must just get it across to all our friends in the community, we cannot start to break the peace by having gunfire after sessions. Celebrate otherwise,” Dr. Chang implored.

He also credited crime reduction in the area and the overall decline of crime in the parish to the Government’s effective crime-fighting strategies and its investment of close to $1 billion annually to ensure that there is an increased police presence in troubled communities.

The community, which had a history of crime and violence, was designated a Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) on June 20, 2021.

Under the ZOSO, the Government has rehabilitated some 1.4 kilometres of roadway, rehabilitated water and drainage infrastructure and rehabilitated two sports facilities and public spaces.

For his part, Managing Director of JSIF, Omar Sweeney, commended the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) for their part in ensuring that the ZOSO had positive results.

He added that JSIF remains committed to “getting Norwood where it needs to go”.

The forum was held under the theme ‘Zero murders 2024: Sustaining a Crime-Free 2025’.