Clarendon police head warns interpersonal disputes drive crime
Published:Saturday | January 10, 2026 | 12:08 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
Senior Superintendent of Police Shane McCalla, commanding officer for the Clarendon division, is urging citizens to adopt alternative strategies for conflict resolution, citing interpersonal disputes as the primary driver of crime and murder in the parish in 2025.
Despite a 41-per-cent reduction in murders compared with 2024, and the lowest homicide figure in more than a decade, McCalla cautioned that sustained effort remains essential. He was speaking at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, where he delivered a detailed, data-driven presentation on crime trends.
Interpersonal conflicts accounted for 63 per cent of crimes in Clarendon during 2025. Some 23 per cent of shootings were linked to similar disputes. Whereas most murders in 2024 were gang-related (46 per cent), the majority in 2025 were interpersonal, with 26 incidents representing 63 per cent of homicides. Arguments and acts of revenge were the predominant causes.
McCalla pointed to the December-19 triple murder in Rocky Point as a tragic illustration of unmanaged conflict. In that incident, 26-year-old fisherman Daniel Henry was charged with three counts of murder after killing his mother, brother and cousin during a domestic dispute.
Contract killings, though relatively few, also often stemmed from personal grievances. “A lot of these [contract killings] that we have observed in terms of our quality analysis also stems from interpersonal conflicts, whether between two businesspeople, or whether between two community members … interpersonal conflict is the root of most of these issues,” McCalla said. Such killings accounted for seven per cent of murders in 2025.
He highlighted the police force’s proactive response to threats to kill, describing these interventions as pivotal to crime reduction. For 11 months of the year, Clarendon remained below the murder-per-month threshold of six, exceeding it only in September. The weekly average stood at 0.8; the monthly average at 3.4.
McCalla stressed that lower crime levels have wider benefits, boosting investment and employment. He also warned against imitation firearms, noting that criminals increasingly use realistic replicas to commit robberies. “These guns actually look and work just like a real firearm,” he cautioned.
Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Joel Williams, praised the police, saying their sustained efforts continue to make Clarendon a safer place to live, work and invest.