Last month it was heartening to hear that murders were down by 19 per cent.

It bode well for 2025 and the intention was for the crime rate which plagues Jamaica to fall discernibly.

High hopes.

The reality is that the year has got off to a terrible start. 

The Government has announced states of emergency (SOEs) in St Catherine, parts of Kingston and St. Andrew, and now a curfew in Christiana.  Today (January 28), another SOE was declared in the St Catherine North police division.

The gangs are in full ascendency and the Government is making every effort to quell them. Gang killings account for around 70 per cent of all murders in Jamaica.

As of today, there have already been 59 murders this month in Jamaica which averages around two a day… It’s not looking good and that might get even higher as the general election draws nearer.

INDECOM is reporting that police personnel have killed 22 people so far this month, a very high number. 

Attention was drawn to police killings when Jermaine Richards a worker at Ribbiz Ultra Lounge on Ardenne Road was shot to death last week by an off-duty policeman in the car park of the plaza that houses that establishment.

Greater attention must be paid to conflict resolution.

You can’t have cops going around with happy trigger fingers.

“The US already has a travel advisory on Jamaica because of its high crime and murder rate as well as poor healthcare facilities. President Trump is not playing and it is not inconceivable that he places a ban on US visitors coming to Jamaica if crime continues to get out of control. That would cripple Jamaica’s tourism industry. It’s a big stick Trump carries over Jamaica’s head if it gets out of line. We have to be careful here,” said former ICE official Anthony Febby of Coral Gables.