UCC and MoBay Chamber collaborate to conduct crime impact study

The Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean have signed an agreement to conduct a study on the impact of crime in the Second City.

The study that will be carried out by a team of researchers from the UCC will look at, among others things, how crime has affected the city's population, commerce, infrastructure and economy.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed Friday afternoon, will be in place for five years.

President of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Oral Heaven, said the study is expected to collect crucial data on the fundamental causes of crime over the next three months. 

“The research project titled 'Understanding the Impact of Crime on Businesses in Montego Bay' will investigate the multifaceted repercussions of crime in our community and explore strategies for mitigating its adverse effects,” Heaven said.

President of the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Haldane Davies, said UCC was pleased to collaborate with Montego Bay's local business community to effect positive changes.

"There is no greater collaboration than when higher education and the business community can come together in the interest of the country's citizens to ensure that what we do in our individual spaces has collective significance for all of us," Davies said.

In the last two decades, the parish of St James has been one of the police divisions with the highest number of homicides.

- Albert Ferguson 

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