Swallowfield needs a ZOSO – councillor

People's National Party councillor for the Trafalgar Division, Kari Douglas, believes that a zone of special operations (ZOSO) is strongly recommended for the community of Swallowfield.

She said that residents of the Kingston 5 community have been cowering in fear for quite a while, following a string of murders and shooting incident.

"A ZOSO is something that I have been asking for because the people are living in fear. For the past few months, there have been several murders, and I have only seen one police unit being posted there. A lot of families have left the community out of fear and what is being experienced now has never happened before, I am being told," Douglas said.

Among the latest act of violence was the slaying of popular Jamaica Labour Party activist Anthony 'Shower Man' Laoe, who was shot last Wednesday at a cookshop.

The 57- year-old is described by Douglas and other persons in the Swallowfield community as a fun-loving person.

"The violence in this area goes back to way before I turned councillor, but this is the worst that it has ever been since 2008. It is a continuous cycle of violence and it is affecting a lot of persons in the community. There is a lot of retaliation and revenge for previous acts of violence ... this is a very difficult situation to handle," she said.

In February, a curfew was imposed in sections of the St Andrew community.