Residents optimistic about new police vehicles

Rasbert Turner, PORTMORE STAR Writer

A number of Portmore residents have expressed optimism about the new sets of motor vehicles recently acquired by the St Catherine South police to work specifically in the municipality.

The five Suzuki motor cars and two Ford sports utility vehicles (SUV) are seen as a big step towards helping the lawmen in their fight against criminals and their activities.

Among those who are filled with optimism is Mayor Keith Hinds. "I must say thanks to the commissioner of police, who, in his wisdom, finds it necessary to deploy the seven motor vehicles to the St Catherine South police. In recent times criminal activities have been on the increase, therefore these vehicles can only work to make things better for law-abiding citizens," Hinds opined.

more difficult

He, however, believes some of the blame for so many crimes should lie on the citizenry, who fail to assist the police with information, thus making their work more difficult. "With information the police must be able to act better and effective. Therefore, residents should see it as their duty to tell them what is happening," he said.

Meanwhile, the police, for their part, promised to work to the benefit of those they have sworn to serve. "We are aware of the level of criminal activities and the vehicles will be deployed to work most effectively. For this reason, we have zoned Portmore into five separate clusters and one car will be assigned to each cluster and the SUV will work in between," said subofficer in charge of transport for the St Catherine South Division, Sergeant Ainsworth Jones. "This will enable us to detect, intercept and prevent criminal actives quicker as we will be based strictly in Portmore."

He said the police are aware also that during the festive season criminals tend to come out in their numbers but the police will be on high alert.