St. James police aiming to keep murder toll down in 2016 - SSP McGregor

The St James Police Division has reported that nearly half of the murders committed in parish in 2015, have been solved.

In a recent interview with Western Focus, Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the St James Division, Steve McGregor, said 104 of the recorded 212 cases of murder committed in the parish last year, have been cleared up.

"I've done my checking over the years, and I have found out that this has never been done in our country where a division has cleared up over 100 murders for the year," McGregor said.

"So even though we are the parish that has recorded the most murders, this is showing that there is a change as it relates to people being more confident in what we are doing here and also the effort that is being put out by my detectives," he added.

McGregor also said more than 100 illegal firearms were seized by lawmen last year. He said although the year has just started, there is much work that had to be undertaken in 2016 to rid Montego Bay and its surrounding environs of criminal elements.

"With our established shift and zone command system, we have quicker response capabilities to any incident that occurs in our parish plus there is a senior officer on call throughout the day and into the night," he explained.

He said the police will continue to work with residents in the

various hot-spot communities, in a bid to boost the division's crime-fighting efforts. According to him, the increased police presence and interaction in these areas, have allowed residents to open up to his officers.

McGregor says he is urging citizens of the parish to report conflicts to the police and not to take matters into their own hands, if they want to keep the murder toll down in 2016.

"When you try to deal with issues on your own, it causes reprisals. We found that over the last year many of the murders that we have came across through reprisal so let the police deal with the issues," he stated.

"I am overly optimistic that with the (police) team that we have here, St. James is going to be good this year," McGregor added.