WESTERN BUREAU:
TO GUARANTEE a tight and fool-proof security arrangement for the CARICOM Summit in Montego Bay, the manpower and equipment capabilities of the 590 police personnel in St. James are being augmented as of today.
An influx of police personnel from the three other parishes in the Police Area 1 Region (Westmore-land, Trelawny, Hanover), and from the Mobile Reserve in Kingston have been added to the existing security fleet in St. James.
In outlining aspects of the security measures for the CARICOM Summit, Superintendent Newton Amos, Commanding Officer for St. James gave the assurance that the parish is in a state of readiness to provide rigid security for local and foreign delegates to the conference in Montego Bay, which kicks off today and ends on Saturday.
"We are fully prepared and ready to take on the security challenges of the CARICOM Summit," Super-intendent Amos assured, in response to questions from The Gleaner. "All Commanding officers from the three other divisions in Area 1 will be stationed in the parish during the CARICOM summit and, at least, 100 policemen from those parishes will also assist the St. James police."
The additional police personnel arrive on the heels of the inflow of 40 new police recruits into St. James three weeks ago, aimed at boosting the crime fighting efforts in the parish.
Deputy Superintendent Derrick 'Cowboy' Knight, head of crime fighting operations in St. James, feels the deployment of the new recruits to the parish will go a long way in reducing the previous shortage of security manpower in St. James.
Meanwhile, the Area 1 hierarchy reportedly met in a marathon meeting yesterday, to finalise plans for the CARICOM Summit.
A new addition to the security landscape in St. James is the use of armoured police vehicles with surveillance equipment. While admitting that one was recently brought into the parish, the St. James Crime Chief, Superintendent Newton Amos declined to say the number of such vehicles, which would be stationed in the parish while the summit is in progress.
The responsibility for ground security and security operations for the Regional Conference falls in the lap of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Linton Lattie.
The taut security provisions have been extended to the monitoring of traffic on the streets of Montego Bay. However, pedestrians and motorists in the 'Second City' should see "minimum inconvenience" in the use of the roads in that resort town today and for the rest of the week.
According to Inspector Winston Milton, head of the St. James Police Traffic Department, no new traffic arrangements should be implemented in the resort capital. He is confident that "there are no plans to barricade any roadways or sections of roadway to facilitate CARICOM" conferees.
"There will be no need to block off roads since, for the most part, the heads of states will not be travelling individually, but will be travelling together in one coach," disclosed Inspector Milton. "There is a possibility that individual heads of government might want to go off on their own, but the security arrangements should not create any traffic pile-ups or new traffic arrangements."
