Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has warned the police not to disclose their operational plans to the public, stating that criminals are often tipped off about planned action of the police and go into hiding before they can be caught.

She suggested that this was part of the reason crime was rising in the western end of the island, as criminals fled from the Corporate Area to rural communities.

The Prime Minister was speaking on Saturday night in an address to community volunteers participating in the Citizen Security and Justice Programme. The volunteers were being awarded for their service to the country at a banquet at the Hilton hotel in New Kingston.

Of the nearly 60 murders committed in the first two weeks of 2007, a third were committed in the parishes of Westmoreland, St. James and Trelawny.

"Commissioner (Thomas), you can tell them in terms of strategy, but in terms of operations, they ought not to be told," she said turning to the Commissioner of pPolice, Lucius Thomas, who was seated in the audience.

Warning

Meanwhile, in a fiery response to speculation that 2007 could bring a bloody election, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has warned criminals that violence would not be tolerated during the general election expected before the end of this year.

Commenting on a recent state-ment by Commissioner Thomas and the Peace Management Initiative that criminals were arming themselves ahead of the election, she said: "They are going to have to kill me but we are going to have a peaceful election in Jamaica."

Mrs. Simpson Miller said all Jamaicans have a right to freedom and should be allowed to exercise their right to vote without being intimidated by others.

"Anyone that stirs up trouble or war when I call election, deal with that person," she urged the Police Commissioner.

She added that all political candidates should campaign peacefully because none of the political parties would gain from intimidation and violence.