The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will be maintaining a strong presence on the streets, particularly in major towns, as the Yuletide period approaches.

Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Monday, Assistant Commissioner of Police assigned to the Strategic Operations Portfolio and the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, Dr Gary McKenzie, said that the objective is to ensure public order and facilitate a smooth flow of traffic.

“So, some of the things that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will do, certainly, is to ensure that we are strategically placed across communities,” he said.

“We will conduct patrols; we will conduct beats. We will ensure that the traffic across highways and within townships is moving in a very free, unobstructed, and safe manner,” he said.

 ACP McKenzie noted that in the post-Hurricane Melissa dispensation, the JCF will continue strategies that have worked in the past to maintain public order, particularly in town centres in the parishes that have been hardest hit by the hurricane.

“One of the primary things we do, especially at the Yuletide season, is to implement one-way systems across several townships within the country. This year is no different, especially in townships in Westmoreland, St James, St Elizabeth, Manchester. Within the Corporate Area, we also do it. For example, on Red Hills Road, we have had to implement that kind of strategy as the traffic becomes very heavy when persons try to access certain commercial entities,” he said.

Additionally, ACP McKenzie said that administrative personnel have been deployed to locations across the country to further increase patrols and operations.

“One of the things that we also have to do is increase our intersection management. Even though we have a number of intersections that we have our box junctions (hatched yellow lines) to indicate to people that they should not stop within the intersections, inevitably, persons do that and it causes more delay. 

“We have had to reduce the number of personnel we have doing administration and actually have them on the streets to monitor those areas in a bid to ensure that there is order and freer traffic,” ACP McKenzie noted.