‘We don’t want it here’
Black River mayor urges New Market to help cops blunt criminality
Published:Friday | December 20, 2024 | 12:10 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Black River Mayor Richard Solomon has issued a firm warning to the criminals targeting the New Market township and surrounding commercial areas in St Elizabeth, demanding that they cease their activities.
In September, gunmen robbed a supermarket in New Market, taking cash from the proprietor at gunpoint. They fired shots as they fled the scene in a grey Toyota Axio motor car.
That incident was the second such occurrence within weeks.
“We don’t want it here, so I would encourage us to continue to partner with the police,” said Solomon, who was speaking at a meeting with business owners and operators at the New Market Preparatory School on Wednesday. “They would have tried it already, and we, the community, have bonded together and demonstrated that we don’t want criminal elements in the space of New Market and its surroundings.”
He stressed that New Market is a peaceful community, “one in which the residents want to live in peace and free from crime”.
National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, who attended the meeting, which was called to find solutions to an upsurge in crime, urged the residents to cooperate with the police, who have a duty to serve and protect them.
Major crimes
Superintendent Coleridge Minto, head of the St Elizabeth Police Division, told the residents that New Market has been showing up on the police’s radar as it relates to major crimes committed in the parish since the start of 2024.
“Of the 223 major crimes recorded in the parish, the New Market [police] area accounts for 11 cases, which include two murders. This is a peaceful community, but 11 crimes is still too many,” said Minto.
He acknowledged, however, that the 2024 figure was lower than the 16 cases over the corresponding period in 2023.
“We have implemented several strategies to bring major crimes down. Since October, we have the beat patrol in the town of New Market, and since then, we have not had any major crimes reported in this area,” said Minto.
Solomon, who is also the councillor for the New Market division in the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, said he is confident that once the residents support the police, criminals will not be able to take hold of the township.
“Let us continue to share information because oftentimes in this area, we are scared of giving information because the information might be leaked and backlash returned to you, but I am saying to you, there are ears that you can whisper into and there are lines – such as 119 and 311 – that you can call because even the ‘baddest’ person, when he is in a crisis, who do you think he calls on? The police” said Solomon.