By Teino Evans, Staff Reporter

Dancers prepare to do the 'Drop Dead' at a recently held 'Dutty Fridaze'. - file

Following the shooting death of a police constable in Kingston on October 1, the future of 'Dutty Fridaze', seemed uncertain.

The shooting was said to have taken place on Orange Street, in the vicinity of Fletchers Land where the popular dance takes place.

When The STAR contacted Two Grand, promoter of Dutty Fridaze, on Thursday, he was certain that everything was back to normal for this Friday, but the rain had affected last week.

Get a permit

Two Grand said they were put in a tight spot when the lawman was killed, as acquiring a permit to keep the street dance became much more difficult following the incident.

"Is just because the police died on Orange Street, because if it was a normal civilian who died in the street, it would be difficult to get a permit to keep the dance, much less when is a police that was killed," Two Grand explained.

On the morning of Monday, October 1, 2007, Constable Richard King, attached to the Kingston Central Police Station, was shot dead by gunmen on Orange Street in Kingston.

According to reports from the Constabulary Communication Network, members of a police patrol went to Orange Street in downtown Kingston at about 2 a.m., where a dance was in progress. They were exiting their vehicle when three armed men opened fire, hitting King. The fire was returned, but the men made good their escape.

However, when contacted, Sergeant Daley attached to the Kingston Central Police Station said she was not aware that the promoters had the requisite permission from the police to stage the event this week.

"They (the promoters) made an application but I did not take it because it was late. We have two applications pending for next week and the week after," Sergeant Daley said.