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More police deployed in tourist resort town
CMC
Friday, May 07, 2010
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – At least 200 police officers will be deployed in the tourist resort town of Montego Bay <span style="font-weight: bold">even as an influential private sector official said politicians were being hypocritical about the crime situation in Jamaica.</span>
In addition, a University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer has said that Jamaicans had become “numb” to the “heartless” criminal acts in the country.
The decision to send the extra police officers to Montego Bay was taken Thursday during a meeting with various stakeholders, including Police Commissioner Owen Ellington, National Security Minister Dwight Nelson and the Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
Ellington dismissed suggestions that the police were incapable of stemming the increased number of murders and warned the criminals to expect tougher police activities in coming days.
He said a new police post would be established in the nearby community of Salt Spring to serve other volatile areas surrounding around the tourist capital.
Ellington said that the police would also seek to wipe out the illegal multi-million dollar lottery games.
“There are young children who are involved in scamming and they are getting family members to make fictitious IDs and they go and collect stolen money, “he said.
“People know who they are, the criminals know who they are and they are coming after them, so the only hope to get the problem under control is for citizens to understand that crime does not pay,” Ellington said.
Nelson said the support pledged by the business community would allow for an increase in resources to fight crime in the parish.
“We have established a resource committee among the private sector and ourselves that will seek to source funding for some of the projects that we have to provide and implement” he said, while Bartlett said that the police would benefit from the new initiative.
“We set up this resource collaborative committee with the purpose of mobilising the resources that the police will need …the purpose ofcourse is to give easy access and flexibility in movement so that the response time to any of the troubled areas will be no more than five minutes.”
But the immediate past president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, Lloyd B Smith has accused the politicians of hypocrisy.
“…..the politicians know who the gunmen are, they know a lot of things which are not behind disclosed and followed up on and I am tired of this hypocrisy," he said.
Thursday’s meeting was held hours after four members of one family were murdered in the central parish of St Catherine, <span style="font-weight: bold">pushing the murder toll since the start of the year closer to 600.</span>
Meanwhile, UWI professor of Social Anthropology, Barry Chevannes, says the crime situation has reached a point where Jamaicans have become numb to the situation.
"<span style="font-weight: bold">It's difficult to compare heartless acts, but the slashing of the throat of a five-year-old, what is that</span>?" he questioned.
Speaking at a forum titled 'Portrayal of Crime in Media in Jamaica', Chevannes said murders were now "glamourised" in Jamaica and that blamed the media for contributing to this, arguing that "people are emboldened when they see the mayhem that is represented as what they did".
Chevannes said he has heard reports of gunmen gathering before the television to watch news reports of a murder they had committed earlier.
"I can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised if that was in fact confirmed," he said, agreeing with the position adopted by the Gleaner newspaper to carry the most recent murder statistics on the front page.
"What The Gleaner is doing in keeping that clock ticking on the front page is more helpful than not," he said, noting that every murder is the loss of a human life worthy of attention.
CMC
Friday, May 07, 2010
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – At least 200 police officers will be deployed in the tourist resort town of Montego Bay <span style="font-weight: bold">even as an influential private sector official said politicians were being hypocritical about the crime situation in Jamaica.</span>
In addition, a University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer has said that Jamaicans had become “numb” to the “heartless” criminal acts in the country.
The decision to send the extra police officers to Montego Bay was taken Thursday during a meeting with various stakeholders, including Police Commissioner Owen Ellington, National Security Minister Dwight Nelson and the Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
Ellington dismissed suggestions that the police were incapable of stemming the increased number of murders and warned the criminals to expect tougher police activities in coming days.
He said a new police post would be established in the nearby community of Salt Spring to serve other volatile areas surrounding around the tourist capital.
Ellington said that the police would also seek to wipe out the illegal multi-million dollar lottery games.
“There are young children who are involved in scamming and they are getting family members to make fictitious IDs and they go and collect stolen money, “he said.
“People know who they are, the criminals know who they are and they are coming after them, so the only hope to get the problem under control is for citizens to understand that crime does not pay,” Ellington said.
Nelson said the support pledged by the business community would allow for an increase in resources to fight crime in the parish.
“We have established a resource committee among the private sector and ourselves that will seek to source funding for some of the projects that we have to provide and implement” he said, while Bartlett said that the police would benefit from the new initiative.
“We set up this resource collaborative committee with the purpose of mobilising the resources that the police will need …the purpose ofcourse is to give easy access and flexibility in movement so that the response time to any of the troubled areas will be no more than five minutes.”
But the immediate past president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, Lloyd B Smith has accused the politicians of hypocrisy.
“…..the politicians know who the gunmen are, they know a lot of things which are not behind disclosed and followed up on and I am tired of this hypocrisy," he said.
Thursday’s meeting was held hours after four members of one family were murdered in the central parish of St Catherine, <span style="font-weight: bold">pushing the murder toll since the start of the year closer to 600.</span>
Meanwhile, UWI professor of Social Anthropology, Barry Chevannes, says the crime situation has reached a point where Jamaicans have become numb to the situation.
"<span style="font-weight: bold">It's difficult to compare heartless acts, but the slashing of the throat of a five-year-old, what is that</span>?" he questioned.
Speaking at a forum titled 'Portrayal of Crime in Media in Jamaica', Chevannes said murders were now "glamourised" in Jamaica and that blamed the media for contributing to this, arguing that "people are emboldened when they see the mayhem that is represented as what they did".
Chevannes said he has heard reports of gunmen gathering before the television to watch news reports of a murder they had committed earlier.
"I can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised if that was in fact confirmed," he said, agreeing with the position adopted by the Gleaner newspaper to carry the most recent murder statistics on the front page.
"What The Gleaner is doing in keeping that clock ticking on the front page is more helpful than not," he said, noting that every murder is the loss of a human life worthy of attention.
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