SENIOR SUPERINTENDENT Paul Ferguson, commanding officer for the St. James Police Division, says that crime management in the parish is hindered by a number of factors, including the expansion of squatter communities and the illicit drug trade.
With 67 murders recorded to date, St. James' crime profile is a complex web of drug-related crime, gang warfare, reprisals and community disputes.
Speaking to The Gleaner in an interview yesterday, SSP Ferguson explained that managing crime in St. James is a difficult task, which is further hindered by the socio-economic hardships being faced in troubled communities.
"Some communities like Canterbury, Quarry, Glendevon and Rose Heights are hard to police because they do not have roads and signs," said SSP Ferguson. "Unstructured development poses a severe policing problem."
According to SSP Ferguson, to tackle crime the St. James Police Division engages several strategies that are co-ordinated through a weekly divisional tasking and co-ordinating meeting. A number of these include the engagement of a newly-trained special squad, a divisional intelligence unit and a crime pattern analyst.
Other strategies include a permanent foot patrol and mobile patrol in troubled areas and community outreach programmes which have had a profound impact in Flankers through its Peace Management Initiative.
- Monique Hepburn
