St James records 10 murders in 15 days

In a 15-day span this month, St James has recorded 10 murders, much to the chagrin of the security forces.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Ealan Powell, the officer in charge of the police’s operations in the state of public emergency (SOE), said that the situation is of much concern and that new strategies are to be put in place to quickly arrest the situation.

“We have taken note of the situation,” said Powell, in regards to the latest murders. “We will be tweaking our operations to address the issue ... we will be looking at where they (the murders) took place and to do a detailed analysis”

Powell’s acknowledgment that criminals are once again raising their murderous heads, comes just one week after Omar Robinson, the president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), told the JHTA 57th annual general meeting, in Ocho Rios, that Montego Bay is the Jamaica.

Based on the latest figures safest place in released by the Jamaica Constabulary Force, while the police have made major headway in seizing illegal weapons and arresting top-flight gangsters, St James has recorded over 50 murders in 2018, 28 of them since the start of the SOE.

Last year, St James recorded a record 334 murders, earning the dubious title of being the nation’s murder capital.

It was the brazen behaviour of marauding gangsters that caused the imposition of the SOE, and the extension of the Zone of Special Operations, which was declared in Mt Salem, last September.