Westmoreland mayor appeals for peace
Published:Saturday | March 16, 2024 | 12:06 AMAlbert Ferguson / Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
SAVANNA-LA-MAR MAYOR Councillor Danree Delancy is appealing to law-abiding citizens of Westmoreland to unite and stand up against criminals now wreaking havoc in sections of the parish.
“For some time now. our parish has been grappling with crime and, in recent times, we have seen it flare up again in sections across the parish, especially in the Grange Hill area,” Delancy told councillors at the first sitting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) on Thursday, following the February 26 local government elections.
His appeal comes after the fragile peace in the volatile Grange Hill community was disrupted last Saturday when three men were shot and killed gangland-style in the ongoing feud between the notorious King Valley Gang and the emerging Ants Posse Gang, who are said to be fighting over the spoils of criminal activities.
That action by criminals has forced the security forces to mount a massive response to the violence, rushing in significant assets, which included members of the military, and additional police officers, who have had to be using aerial surveillance.
Shortly after classes started at both the Grange Hill Primary School and the Grange Hill High School on Tuesday morning, educators were thrown into panic mode after reports surfaced that the gangsters, who the police have blamed for a spate of recent murders in the community, were planning to shoot up one of the schools.
Classes were promptly dismissed and the students sent home.
“I just want to appeal to all law-abiding citizens to do what we can to assist the police in stemming this crime wave that is raging across our parish and also across Jamaica,” said Delancy, who is also the chairman of the WMC.
He said now is not the time to keep quiet on criminal activities, because crime affects everybody.
“It may not directly affect you now or directly affect me now but, yes, it indirectly affects us and, eventually one day, it just might directly affect us,” the Savanna-la-Mar mayor said.
“Whatever you can do, whether it be to speak to someone you see going down the wrong road, do that in your own small way in helping to restore law and order,” he pleaded.