SEX DEALS BEHIND BANK

Residents of Ocho Rios say a street in the resort town is overrun with prostitutes. And in what some consider a countermove, a security guard has been put in place at a financial institution’s branch, which is located on the street.

An individual who works in Ocho Rios said the bank’s premises is one of the places sex workers take their clients to ‘do business’.

“A true di prostitute dem a *$&# ova deh mek dem affi put in a security guard fi watch dem a night,” the person said.

However, when pressed about whether the guard was put in place in response to prostitutes having sex on the premises of the bank, a representitive of the institution said she was advised that “We [The Ocho Rios branch of the institution] had issues of loitering on our property and have put measures in place to ensure the continued safety of our customers, in particular those utilising the services of our ATM.”

CHALLENGING

She noted that the security of customers is of primary importance, and based on this issue, the security of the premises has been further extended.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Gary Francis, commanding officer for the St Ann Police Division, said he has not received any formal complaints.

“I know that prostitutes operate in sections of Ocho Rios. Wherever they operate, whatever premises they go on that belong to private persons, they (owners) would have concerns about it, but I couldn’t tell you about a property owner making a complaint,” Francis said.

He said that as recently as Tuesday, the police had an operation to get the sex workers off the street, however, it is challenging.

“As soon as you move from the space, they come back to operate in the space again. But it is just one of the things that we can see if we can manage,” he said.