Police publish safety guide for returning residents, stakeholders react

Vice-president of the Trelawny chapter of the International Returning Residents Association Yvette Simms says her organisation supports the police's new safety and security handbook for returning residents.

Titled ‘Welcome Home', the handbook outlines, among other things, security tips on moving around Jamaica; tips on home safety; and contact information for police stations and territorial officers, essential services, and key state agencies.

The police say the handbook was created following a meeting in July that involved key stakeholders and arose from concerns about the safety of Jamaicans resettling in the island.

Simms believes that the handbook is necessary because it is a guide that returning residents can use for a sense of safety.

“A lot of returning residents are being targeted by persons they know and trust. The booklet includes tips on how we can protect ourselves, and we can keep it close to us to use in times of need,” she said.

The release of the handbook comes amid concerns about recent cases of murder and other crimes committed against returning residents.

Eleven returning residents have been killed since January.

Meanwhile, Percival LaTouche, president and founder of the Jamaica Association of the Resettlement of Residents, said that he wants to see a comprehensive plan that will make Jamaica safe for all.

LaTouche contends that the police must go beyond the handbook to implementing meaningful actions that will result in a reduction in crime.

“We need a police commissioner who will express how he will bring murders down, and not a book. The commissioner needs to face the nation instead of segregating Jamaicans and the returning residents,” LaTouche stated.

View handbook here

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