Cops to clamp down on Spaldings chaos
THE MANCHESTER police have vowed to crack down on the traffic chaos that has seized the central Jamaica town of Spaldings.
The warning comes in the wake of Tuesday’s police shooting of a bus driver over a traffic violation, which precipitated a confrontation that left the motorist hospitalised with gunshot wounds after reportedly initially assaulting a cop.
“The frequency with which they break the road traffic laws, we are going to put an end to that because we are going to have a strong, consistent police presence there,” warned Superintendent Wayne Cameron, commanding officer of the Manchester Police Division. “I am sending a strong warning to the taxi operators. Remember, a police is trained to defend themselves and they will be met with violence if they attack a police.”
Cameron said there are countless breaches by taxi operators in the small town, which straddles the border of Clarendon and Manchester.
“The taxi operators are refusing to use the transportation centre, and once they choose to load on the roadway, that is a traffic breach,” Cameron told The Gleaner yesterday.
“There have been several occasions were policemen are confronted by transport operators there. It is a kind of trend where people fight police in Spaldings.”
The Manchester police have arrested one man and are on the hunt for two others who are believed to have caused extensive damage to the windshield and back window of a service vehicle in Tuesday’s incident.