Sex predators on the prowl in Trelawny

A SENIOR crime fighter in Trelawny said there appears to be a tendency on the part of some older men in the parish to have sex with children under 16 years of age.

"I get the feeling these older men in this parish feel that just having a little sex with under age girls proves a point," Inspector Lorna Henderson, the head of the community safety and security division of the Trelawny police said.

She was speaking at last Thursday's monthly meeting of the Trelawny Parish Council.

Henderson said the police are now taking their outreach programmes into the schools to educate young girls on the dangers of getting involved with these men whom she labelled as sexual predators.

52 per cent reduction

Inspector Henderson revealed that crime statistics for the period January 1 to July 7, 2012 have shown a 52 per cent clear up rate in the 33 reported cases of sexual abuse crimes involving girls under 16 and older men.

She pointed out that a recent initiative by the police to remove bus and taxi operators off the streets of Falmouth and force them to use the newly constructed transportation centre on Tharpe Street has failed.

The senior cop said a number of prosecutions were thrown out by the court on the grounds that the transportation centre was not gazetted. The revelation by the police inspector drew a strong rebuke from Mayor Garth Wilkinson who suggested that the police should carry out their duties irregardless, pointing out that his research has revealed that 90 per cent of speed limits and one-way streets in other towns are not gazetted yet the police in those areas carry out their responsibilities.