Area Two police vow lower crime stats for 2016
Published:Monday | January 11, 2016 | 12:00 AM
TOWER ISLE, St Mary:
The police in Area Two have vowed to put a bigger dent in crime in the three parishes, St Ann, St Mary and Portland, during 2016.
At a meeting last Thursday at the Area Two headquarters in Tower Isle, St Mary, commanding officer for the region, ACP Glenford Hudson and the heads of the three divisions along with other senior officers, vowed that every effort will be made to ensure that Area Two remains the safest region in Jamaica.
This commitment came against the backdrop of increases in serious crimes in the region during 2015, when compared to 2014.
For the year, the murder figure across the region rose by eight. St Mary saw an increase of three murders, from 26 to 29; St Ann up by three, from 38 to 41, and Portland up by two, from seven to nine.
Robbery rose by 33, shooting 25 and rape 12. There were decreases in other areas such as larceny, aggravated assault, breakings, missing persons and stolen motor vehicles.
There was also a decrease in fatal shooting by the police.
Thirty-five firearms and 258 rounds of ammunition were recovered, and 6,000 arrests were made. Regarding drugs, 13,000 pounds of marijuana and nine pounds of cocaine were seized, 320 persons were arrested and nine firearms recovered in those operations.
More than 6,500 bootleg DVDs were seized, the vast majority of 4,700 in Portland.
The police in Area Two have an average clear-up rate of 45 per cent, it was reported.
ACP Hudson reported that more arrests were made for praedial larceny as the police stepped up efforts to address this area.
Declaring that the praedial larceny programme is one that will continue to be important, Hudson said special units have been created in all three parishes to address the problem.
For 2016, Hudson said the focus would on dominating public space and enhance public confidence in the police. The police will continue the get the guns campaign and continue to target the most wanted criminals.
The police will target criminal hot spots in all three parishes, the ACP stated.