Police commissioner upbeat about western Jamaica

Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson says that the recent upsurge in violence in Hanover was linked to lottery scamming activities.

Hanover experienced the upsurge from the end of April to May, which prompted the deployment of police officers and implementation of police initiatives.

"That spike was about lottery scamming that turned into violence against each other. Before the cycle of violence continued we had to interrupt it from happening," said Anderson, who was continuing his series of divisional tours and visits. Anderson assured that things are back under control and there will be continued support for the parish to keep it disciplined in the foreseeable future. Some of those plans include a new police station, increased mobility around quick response units by providing more motorcycles and the deployment of police officers to the parish.

"We have been unable in previous times to grow Hanover because of a challenge we had force-wide, and that challenge was over many years we've been unable to grow the force. Fortunately, that is not the case now as for over the last two years we have been growing the force," said Anderson.

He said that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) went from recruiting 400 officers per year to 1,250 in the past two years.

"We are not looking at slowing down our recruiting any time soon ... . We even have persons graduating on Friday, June 9," he said.

The tours form part of the commissioner's community engagement strategy, which sees him directly meeting with community stakeholders to discuss matters of national and personal security.

In neighbouring St James, Anderson also announced a new, specialised police operational base is to be established in Montego Hills. This will provide enhanced security and improved response time for residents in the community and surrounding areas. He informed that the space has already been identified to construct the facility.