Crime on the decline in St Andrew South division...
November 25, 2005
WITH over 540 firearms and 6,800 rounds of ammunition seized by the police over the last five years and a two-year death toll of 485, the St Andrew South division continues to top the country's overall homicide figures.
"This division is the most volatile and violent in Jamaica," said
Superintendent Newton Amos, adding that there had been a decline in murders and other violent crimes over the last two months.
"We take comfort in the fact that in two months we have had only four homicides, two of which took place this morning (Wednesday)," said Amos.
Amos, who heads the division, attributed the recent decline to increased community policing and other "preventative" measures, pointing out that most of the murders had occurred earlier in the year prior to the implementation of these initiatives.
He was speaking at the St Andrew South leg of the Crime Prevention and Community Safety forum held at the Open Bible Church on Washington Boulevard on Wednesday.
Amos said that murders in the division now stood at 243. Last year, 242 murders occurred in the division.
The police division - one of the largest - stretches from Queen Hill to Marcus Garvey Drive.
Commenting further on the recent decline in murders and other crimes, Amos said: "our approach had been one-sided before. (now) we have established a tactical and operational unit plus an intelligence unit. the result has been encouraging. We have held fewer persons, but more have been charged".
Amos told the gathering that police data shows that people between the ages 15 to 35 years are the primary perpetrators and victims of violent crime.
In 2004, of the 242 reported cases of homicide in the division, 117 were cleared up, with more than 90 per cent of those charged being between 15 and 35 years old....
Author: Patrick Foster
Source: Jamaica Observer
