Crime trending down, but police urge business community to be cautious

PORT ANTONIO, Portland:

Despite a downward trend in incidences of major crimes, Superintendent of Police for Portland, Lloyd Darby, is urging commercial operators against complacency and routine, especially with night lodgements, as they could easily become prey to criminal elements.

“Traditionally at this time of year we see an increase in acquisitory crimes and we just want our citizens to be aware of their surroundings,” he said.”The business persons ... we advise that you don’t follow a routine when dealing with your lodgements. We are willing to escort persons to the banks and we want persons to employ security services to protect their lodgements,” he added.

Darby, who gave a detailed report which included statistics on the decline in serious and violent crimes, noted that murder is now at 11 when compared to 16 during the similar period of December 2021; shooting is at five compared to 12 in 2021; robbery is at eight when compared to 19 in 2021; breaking in is at 32 when compared to 56 in 2021; larceny is at three when compared to eight in 2021, and rape is at 11 when compared to 19 in 2021.

He assured residents, however, that law enforcement officers would remain vigilant during the Christmas season, citing an increase in personnel to boost the effort.

“We have received 14 police officers from a recent graduation at the training school. It has been some time since Portland has received new police and so you will see an improvement in deployment and improvement in service delivery on a whole,” he concluded.