LAWSON

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce has signalled its intention to the Manchester police that its members will not sit and allow crime to take control of the parish.

"We will not allow ourselves to be held hostage by a few criminals who have no respect for law and order," said president Winston Lawson, who is also the immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Mandeville and branch manager of National Commercial Bank.

Mr. Lawson and a delegation from the Chamber met with the police high command of the parish recently to express their dissatisfaction with what appears to be an increasing crime rate.

The team was particularly disturbed that while the police are claiming a reduction of crime in the parish, residents are still being robbed and houses being burglarised at what one chamber member terms "an alarming rate".

The recent brutal murder of two of the parish's senior citizens, businessman and justice of the peace, 75-year-old Richard Lyn and his 71-year-old wife Julia, added fuel to an already contentious topic.

Equipment shortage

While Superintendent Michael James, the officer in charge of the Manchester police, struggles with the shortage of equipment and manpower, Mr. Lawson is calling on the Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, to effectively respond to the needs of the police in Manchester.

He said the Minister should examine the call of the president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Mark Myers, to utilize the fingerprint database of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) to track criminals.