By Adrian Frater, News EditorWESTERN BUREAU:
THE NEW initiative, which has evolved out of last month's emergency meeting between the St. James police high command and business leaders, is being credited for the 'murder- free' two weeks experienced in the parish since mid-July.
"We are extremely pleased with the situation and we are particular happy with the level of co-operation we have been getting from citizens," said Senior Superintendent John Morris, the crime chief for Area One, which includes St. James. "We have made a commitment to make the parish safe and we are not letting up until that mission has been accomplished."
"Through intelligence, we are now tracking the movement of the guns in the hands of the criminals because the guns must be taken off the streets," declared SSP Morris. "We are pleased with the reduction in murders but we need the cuts to prevent any further re-occurrence."
84 MURDERS
The relative calm, that is in stalk contrast to the 84 murders committed in the parish since the start of the year, is being greeted with relief, especially in some of the volatile inner-city communities. These areas have long been considered a haven for both home-grown gunmen and their migrating counterparts.
"Things are much better at this time," said Rosetta Brooks, an elderly resident of Rose Heights, one of the 'black spots' in the volatile Mt. Salem Police Division. "The police are all over the community at nights so we are now able to go to night service at church without fear."
Prior to the initiative, which included the formation of a special 21-member special police unit, residents in areas such as Rose Heights, Norwood, Glendevon and Green Pond, regularly found themselves at the mercy of rampaging gunmen, who frequently traded gunfire with impunity around the clock.
FREE FROM FEAR
"We now have these fellows on the run so residents are now able to go about their normal business free from fear," said SSP Morris, who noted that the operations are intelligence-driven and rarely affect law-abiding citizens. "The unit is quite enthused about what they are doing so there will be no letting up."
With the parish's murder count at an unprecedented 84 in mid-July and speculation rife that the bloodshed was poised to spill over into Montego Bay's business district and tourism belt, business leaders and the police high command met in an emergency forum to devise strategies to halt the escalating lawlessness.
