Crime rate falls in St. James - say police

No. 133 Friday, August 27, 2010
By Okoye Henry
Strategies toward effectively fighting crime have long been a longstanding problem for Jamaica, and especially St. James, which for sometime was labelled the crime capital of Jamaica, with its overbearing crime issues.

   This, however, has not deterred the actions of the police who have reported a drop in figures for the number of crime committed in the parish since the start of the year.
    Statistics from the Acting Crime Officer for St. James Detective Inspector Luis Brown revealed that since the start of the 2010, St. James has recorded 132 killings. This figure comes in contrast to the 141 murders committed over the same period last year.
    The summer holiday, which has been littered with many killings over the years have seen a significant drop this year, as only a recorded eight murders were committed for the month of July and three so far for the month of August.
    The last of which, was the murder of 27 year old Clayton ‘Parrio’ Stanley whose body was found burnt and his head severed at a section of Retirement Dump last Friday.
    However, for the same period last year the figure stood at 41 murders; 24 for the month of July and 17 for August.
    Detective Inspector Brown attributes the reduction in crime to the increase in searches and raids by police personnel on the streets and in troubled communities. Also, information received from the public has greatly assisted in this fight and the police are encouraging others to come forward with information that will further lead to the arrest of criminals elements.
    “Despite the fact that we are doing fairly well, we want to increase efforts in getting rid of these culprits that plague and wreak havoc on our society,” Brown said.