Chairman of the Clarendon Crime Prevention Committee, William 'Billy' Shagoury, speaks passionately of his desire to see Clarendon rid itself of crime during an interview with The Gleaner after a tour of the parish recently. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

MAY PEN, CLARENDON:

Despite several measures put in place in a bid to stop the high levels of crime across Clarendon, murders in the parish continue to skyrocket.

Earlier this year National Intelligence Bureau Kingfish was given res-ponsibility for investigating crimes in Clarendon; how-ever, they are now faced with the uphill task of getting witnesses to give statements.

The parish's crime chief, Superintendent Dayton Henry, told, The Gleaner that: "The support from Kingfish is good because we have made several leads in some of our investigations."

"There are, however, challenges because of the unwillingness of witnesses to cooperate," he said.

minor disputes

Superintendent Henry is of the view that the recent spike in murders is not concentrated but is spread across the parish.

"Most of the murders we are experiencing across the parish stem from minor disputes which are not reported to the police," said Henry.

"The police cannot prevent crimes of this nature because no one expresses an intention," he added.

The parish has, however, managed to achieve some level of quietness in hot-spot areas, such as Canaan Heights, Bucknor, Palmers Cross, Hayes and York Town because some of the major players in the violence have been removed either from gang warfare or police intervention.

According to Henry, social intervention being carried out by the police and the Clarendon Crime Prevention Committee in these communities has also helped to reduce the levels of gang influence.

- Dwight Nelson