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Holness says Gov't serious about fighting crime

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said investment in boosting the security forces' apparatus has been a critical part of the Government's crime-fighting strategy.

"So the Government's crime-fighting strategy has been very tactile... it's focused heavily on investing in the police force and the military," Holness said.

The prime minister was speaking during a tour of Parade Gardens in downtown Kingston last Friday, where the Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal) initiative is being implemented. He said there has been a massive investment in the "dynamic response of the security forces to ensure that we control spaces, that we control actors, and that we are able to interdict criminals and prosecute".

Holness said the next phase of the Government's crime-fighting strategy is to "treat with the centre of the problem... and the centre of the problem is the person".

"We have to, now, invest heavily in our social support, our psychological and emotional support. We have to invest heavily in our crime prevention, in our youth involvement, community involvement," he said.

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Bull Bay Police Station will take some time to construct

Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang says there is enough land near the site of the old Bull Bay Police Station in St Andrew for the construction of a new facility.

The previous station building, which was situated on the Nine Miles main road, was demolished to facilitate the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project. A temporary police station has been established at Gems Crescent in Bull Bay. Chang advised that constructing a building to permanently house the station "will take some time."

"We are moving through the process. We have already put it in the public-sector investment programme and we will look at the design work. That will take at least a year to get all of that done," he said.

The minister, who toured the temporary location last Friday, said it "appears quite reasonable for the time [being]".

"Where we are now, I am quite satisfied that we have given the officers a reasonable... functional... space to stay," he said.

Chang said he will be seeking support from the National Works Agency to repair some of the roads leading to the relocated facility.

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Water entity to cut JPS bill in half

The National Irrigation Commission Limited (NIC) is continuing its trend of energy independence following the installation of a 30-kilowatt (kW), grid-tied solar system at the company's newly expanded Operations Centre and Rio Cobre district office in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

The system is said to have generated over 141,500 kilowatt-hours of energy, allowing the NIC to avoid $7.16 million, or 50 per cent, in JPS electricity cost.

Speaking at the official commissioning ceremony last Wednesday, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green said there are plans for further expansion.

"We are going to be adding an additional 30kW and further reduce our cost by at least $2 million annually, and we plan to do that this financial year," he said.

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More facelift for downtown Kingston

Work is slated to continue this month on the Church Street beautification project in downtown Kingston.

Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams said the project, being funded in partnership with the Tourism Enhancement Fund, forms part of the Kulture Key Project designed to transform the downtown district.

"You will see in September going into October, the Church Street project unfolding and, in my estimation, it will be... transformational. The aesthetics of the space will change and we hope as we continue the entire project, it will transform the entire downtown [district]," he said.

Williams informed that the project's scope includes constructing planter boxes and planting trees between Barry Street and Port Royal Street, bricking the roadway from Barry Street to Port Royal Street, and painting murals along sections of the street, as well as installing flagpoles along the stretch.

"We believe that that ties in well with the space that we refer to as Kulture Key, which has been becoming very active over the last year or so," the mayor added.

Kulture Key combines leisure and learning through the mounting of murals along various sections of downtown Kingston that tell stories of Jamaica's musical past.

Space will be provided to showcase Jamaican food, craft, artwork, music and dance, attracting locals and visitors and providing income-earning opportunities.

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Man says thieves raided house while he was in jail

A St James man who allegedly bought a water pump that later turned out to have been stolen, was given until October 2 to compensate the complainant, after he told the St James Parish Court on Friday that his house was burgled while he was in custody.

Alwayne Brown, of a Barrett Town address, is charged with receiving stolen property.

Brown was given until September 15 to pay the complainant $100,000 for the pump. However, when he appeared in court last Friday, he told presiding Judge Sasha-Marie Ashley that he did not have the money.

"I just started working at this new site in Falmouth [Trelawny], so I won't get paid until the next two weeks. [And] when I was in jail they broke into my house and took all my clothes," said Brown.