Hotheads keep St Mary cops busy

At least two police jurisdictions in South East St Mary are reporting an increase in disputes since a by-election in the constituency was announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Sergeant Christopher Ward, the officer in charge of the Castleton Police Station, told THE WEEKEND STAR that since the campaigning began, his men have been kept busy trying to maintain peace in the normally quite communities that they police.

"As you can see now, we have a team doing spot checks," Ward said, pointing to his men who were working in front of the station. "With this election, we are not taking any chances."

A political banner bearing the image of Dr Norman Dunn, the Jamaica Labour Party candidate, was defaced in front of the station.

"People are ingenious. We might be policing another area and you have two police here, and they do it," Ward explained.

He told THE WEEKEND STAR that he noticed that the banner was defaced Sunday morning but no reports have been filed, hence there is no investigation.

He said even though there has been complaints from both political parties of the defacing of political signs and banners in the media, most of the cases will go unresolved as no one has come forward to formally file complaints.

Ward said that before the campaigning, the Castleton police jurisdiction was quiet.

"For the past four years that I am here, we only have one case of murder and that murder was not a domestic matter," Ward said. "We have a lot of land disputes, but that's it. And, I must attribute the low crime rate to the people of the community, who are well-behaved," Ward said.

The Belfield Police Station also recorded an increase in the number of disputes reported in its jurisdictions.

The St Mary police are also investigating the shooting of two People's National Party supporters in Annotto Bay last week.