St. James to be Split into Two Police Divisions

St. James is to be divided into two distinct police divisions by the end of the year.

Commissioner of Police, Dr. Carl Williams, made the disclosure at a Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) President’s Forum at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on September 27.

He said the move will better enable the security forces to tackle scammers and criminals, who have been operating from across the parish.

Additional security personnel have been deployed to St. James in an effort to curb violence in sections of the city and surrounding communities, which have seen a number of murders in recent weeks.

“As law enforcement, we have been very concerned about the situation… and we have put out everything we have. We have all personnel out there and we will keep them out there,” Dr. Williams said.

The Police Commissioner informed that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is working closely with the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to coordinate activities.

He said by operating jointly with the military, troops on the ground are better supervised, ensuring faster response to signs of criminal activity.

He informed that space has been identified for a joint base from which the military and police commanders will operate.

“This is where they can coordinate the resources on the ground and deal with the problems as they arise and, hopefully, before they arise,” Dr. Williams noted.

In addition to the increased presence of the security forces, the Police Commissioner cited the re-establishment of the National Anti-Lottery Scam Taskforce and a relaunch of the ‘Get the Guns’ campaign as other initiatives to return stability to St. James.

He said the JCF is working with international partners to ensure more long-lasting solutions to the problem of lottery scamming, which is a significant contributor to crime and violence in the parish. This partnership is also geared at bringing more scammers to justice.

He said the JCF is also setting up facilities at Montpelier in the parish to house additional police personnel, and is looking to have increased equipment in the area.

St. James has recorded almost 200 murders so far this year, 40 more than the figure for the same period last year.