The use of states of public emergency (SOEs) has proven to be the quickest and most effective way of rapidly reducing violent crimes, says Jamaica’s Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson.
“During the first period of the SOEs declared in November, murders were reduced by as high as 64 percent and increased by as much as 171 percent during the seven-day period when the emergency powers were removed,” he disclosed.
The commissioner further stated that when the powers were reinstituted, the first seven-day period once again recorded declines as high as 55 percent in the divisions where the SOEs were declared and continued to trend downwards.
Major General Anderson was speaking at a press briefing on December 28 at the Office of the Prime Minister in St. Andrew, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared states of public emergency.
“As we close this year and move into the new year, it is critical that we sustain the downward trend, using all the tools that we know are effective in curbing the violence we continue to see,” he said.
Anderson noted that the suite of legislative, operational and intelligence responses has been critical to the reduction in numbers.
He informed that the key legislative tools were the provision of the emergency powers to the security forces for two 14-day periods during November and December, and the new Firearms Act, which came into effect at the beginning of November.
“Since the beginning of this year, the country has recorded a daily average of four murders. This peaked in September when the daily average reached nearly five murders. September and October recorded increases as high as eight percent when compared to 2021. Over the past two months, we have managed to reduce the daily murder average to 2.5 and have reduced the gap between last year and this year from eight percent in early October to 1.5 percent currently,” he said.
Meanwhile, the commissioner pointed out that the addition of the St. Andrew North police division will now bring all divisions in the Corporate Area under an SOE. He said this will allow for greater coordination of assets as the violence producers are targeted, particularly in volatile spaces and at the divisional borders.
“Intelligence is indicating the movement of gangsters and illegal guns through and in the St. Andrew North Police Division as well as attempts by migrant criminals to align and establish themselves in some hotspots in the division. This cannot be left unaddressed if we are to continue to reap the successes that we have been seeing, particularly across Kingston and St. Andrew,” he said.
He urged the public to continue to obey the rules and laws associated with public order, loud noise and traversing the roadways.
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