St Andrew South police report SOE success despite roadwork hindrance
Published:Sunday | September 8, 2019 | 12:00 AMKaryl Walker - Gleaner Writer
Despite being encumbered by the ongoing roadwork in the St Andrew South Police Division, which is under a state of emergency (SOE), the police are reporting that crime has taken a significant downturn since Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the measure on July 7.
Operations Officer for Police Area Four, Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor, who is presently in charge of the division in the absence of division head, Superintendent Gary Francis, cited several successes for law enforcement.
“The state of emergency started during the ongoing major roadworks, which has been some sort of hindrance because it has retarded the whole health and ambience side of it, so we have to be working with the National Works Agency to see how best we can be efficient. We do the policing while they deal with the reconfiguration of the roadway,” McGregor told The Sunday Gleaner.
McGregor said that there were nine murders in the first 54 days of the SOE, compared to 38 in the 54 days prior – a 23 per cent decline. Some nine persons were also shot and injured, compared to 50 in the 54 days prior to the beginning of the SOE – an 18 per cent reduction.
The police have also seized 11 illegal guns and 104 rounds of ammunition since the start of the enhanced security measure.
At present, they have apprehended 47 persons of interest on reasonable suspicion of criminal offences.
“It has allowed us to go into the areas [with] high level of violence and arrest some people on reasonable suspicion of being a part of gang activity and those who actually commit crimes. The state of emergency has given the opportunity to keep them for a longer period, to do our investigations, and to keep them out of the space,” he said.
HELP IN A BIG WAY
Under the dictates of the SOE, the police have up to 90 days to detain suspects.
“That is helping us in a big way because prior that, we would have to release them into the area and they would continue,” he said.
Statistics aside, McGregor said a bigger victory for the police is that they are now able to interact with the law-abiding citizens who can respond to law enforcers without fear of reprisal from criminal elements.
“They can now stand up for themselves, and the people are now speaking more. They are not so afraid because there is not a high level of violence. It has given us a chance to do more community policing,” he shared.
McGregor pointed out that the police had already set up youth clubs in the volatile communities of McGregor Lane and Crescent Road, and have been moving to set up more in other violence-prone communities in the division.
The SOE will last for 90 days.
“We have to work on the post-SOE, as we know it won’t last forever. I believe in policing with the people’s consent. They are the ones who live there,” he said.
RESIDENTS GLAD TO LIVE IN PEACE
Although there have been restrictions for the residents who live in the SOE zone, most said they were happy for the increased security presence.
When The Sunday Gleaner team visited the community last week, a group of men were spotted playing dominoes inside a bar close to the intersection of Olympic Way and Bay Farm Road at an area known as Compound.
When asked how they were affected by the SOE, one of the men replied, “The police doing them work. Them know who them a look for. The only thing is we a big man, but we have to come off the street by nine and we domino game mash up.”
Similar sentiments were echoed in Waterhouse, Tower Hill and Three Miles.
McGregor was aware of the complaints, but said rules were rules.
“I know they cannot keep dances and have to adhere to the 9 p.m. curfew, but those are the rules of the SOE,” he said.
The police have been working with the communities to make the restrictions more bearable by hosting treats for the children, among other activities, to let the law-abiding citizens of the division know that they are not the ones being targeted.
St Andrew South is littered with impoverished communities notorious for gun crimes. At least two of Jamaica’s most wanted and vicious criminals, Wayne ‘Sandokhan’ Smith and Nathaniel ‘Natty’ Morgan, have emerged from the bowels of the division.
The area has also produced entertainers Shabba Ranks, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and Dexta Dapps, among others, and former Reggae Boy Ian Goodison.