COPS READY FOR PARTIES

Western Bureau:

It would appear that the Government's decision to ease the strict lockdown measures, which had been keeping the entertainment sector in check since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, could backfire as a result of the rampant disregard for the protocols established to prevent risky behaviour.

Much to the chagrin of persons opposed to the decision, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie revealed, as many had feared that scores of persons were operating in breach of the agreed protocols and staging illegal parties, which could create a platform to spark another wave of COVID-19 infections.

According to McKenzie, from the data received, persons have been staging parties without the requisite approval, outlining the alarming statistics that as many as 600 illegal parties have been held across the country.

“The Government is not going to turn its back. We are going to ensure that the restrictions are not abused,” McKenzie told Thursday's sitting of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation. “We are going to be ramping up the monitoring. More boots are going to be on the ground.”

While the current measures are designed to continue until August, McKenzie hinted that if things spun out of control, there is the likelihood that the Government could intervene, albeit that he never said the intervention could be closing down the sector again.

“If it is necessary, the Cabinet will look into the situation before the August date which the prime minister announced when the ease in the restrictions were announced,” said McKenzie.

However, with some party promoters, who were expected to play a key role in ensuring that the protocols are followed, declaring that they are not prepared to accept any blame should there be a spike in COVID-19 infections, it would appear that the police would be left with the burden of enforcing the protocols.

Efforts to get a comment from Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson yesterday on whether the police had the capacity to rein in entertainment events in breach of COVID-19 protocols failed as he was unresponsive. However, Dennis Brooks, the senior communication strategist for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said the police were ready for the task, while citing some areas of concern.

“From a law enforcement perspective, the noise abatement act still applies … there has been a change in the regime surrounding the orders under the Disaster Risk Management Act (DRMA). It changes the way we enforce the DRMA and as a result, how we enforce the Noise Abatement Act comes back into primary focus,” said Brooks.

No free-for-all

”The challenge is that there are persons who may have taken what seems like relaxation but is a reorganisation of the orders to mean a free-for-all but there is not, and we will enforce the DRMA orders as they are and we will enforce the Noise Abatement Act as it is.”

However, Brooks did admit that there was a challenge when persons employed creative means to evade the police as they would not have been vetted properly or approved, which could create a risky situation for persons attending those events.

“We have the capacity, it is not a capacity issue, in many instances, people are creative with how they seek to avoid the police,” explained Brooks, who said that in those instances they would have to rely on concerned citizens to tell them where the parties were being kept.

Part of the process of applying for a permit, the police conduct a risk assessment of the space … when they keep an illegal party, no risk assessment is done and so there are patrons who put themselves at risk,” said Brooks. “So we would urge persons not to attend parties that are not properly vetted and approved – it is not to your safety, it is literally to your detriment,” said Brooks.