THE MANCHESTER Parish Council has launched a recruitment drive to find at least 10 more municipal policemen to help its revenue collection efforts in Mandeville, Christiana and other communities in the parish.
The Parish Council hopes to expand its municipal police force to 19 members as it seeks to enforce breaches in a number of areas in order to increase its revenue.
Mayor of Mandeville Horace Williams explained yesterday the municipal police force would cover a variety of new areas geared at enhancing the Parish Council's revenue collection and giving much needed assistance to the Manchester's regular police force, which is short-staffed.
People breaching building codes, putting up illegal billboards, building without permission or even littering, among other things, had better watch out because more powers are being given to the municipal force, which already has the authority to tear down illegal billboards and arrest persons for breaches of the Litter Act.
The power to arrest may extend to persons who commit traffic violations if the Ministry of Transport and Works accepts a Parish Council proposal. The force, it is hoped, will also cover more areas in the parish and will step up its monitoring of street vendors.
The new municipal recruits, who will undergo four weeks of training at the Jamaica Police Academy at the expense of the Parish Council, will also be involved in serving summons and issuing notices as well as tracking down delinquent trade licensees and property tax evaders to collect outstanding payments.
Manchester received its first batch of trained municipal police last summer at a cost of more than $100,000 to the council. Mayor Williams was unable to put a cost to training this batch yesterday but he said so far the force had made a tremendous difference, which would grow over time with the input from the new batch.
"As soon as they get training and the Ministry signs off on that act to arrest people for traffic violations, we can really assist the district constables," he said.
