Rats chewing MoBay fibre-optic cables – senior cop
Poor waste disposal from eateries blamed for crisis
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 9:51 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Superintendent Eron Samuels, the police commander for St James, says that while plans are afoot to upgrade the security technology in the parish by next year, he still wants vendors in Montego Bay to better manage their waste disposal to prevent the existing fibre-optic cables from being damaged.
“There is an assessment being done for additional locations that would be off the beaten path not just the major roadways, but some of the areas that would not necessarily have cameras there, where we would have reoccurring crimes,” said Samuels while speaking to the expected technological upgrade at last Thursday’s inaugural Montego Bay ‘city hall meeting’.
“We are expecting that within a short period of time, which could be within the next six months to a year, we will have a significant boost in our technology within St James,” continued Samuels.
“But, as it stands now, some of our cameras are fibre-optic based, and when we have a lot of the vendors throwing their oil within the drains, it goes on these fibre-optic lines and rats actually eat those and end up disrupting the signals. We have to have an all-encompassing view of not just security, but waste management, in order to keep the system working properly,” added Samuels.
The issue of poor waste disposal in St James has been a recurring problem over the years, with streetside food vendors and restaurants often being blamed for contributing to the parish’s rat infestation problem by virtue of dumping food refuse into the drains.
Since 2017, the St James Health Department has launched numerous education campaigns to get vendors to understand the dangers of discarding their waste in the city’s drains, but for the most part the vendors have been non-compliant.
RESTAURANT OWNERS GUILTY
The vendors are not the only culprit in the problematic practice, as some of the city’s restaurants, including some well-established ones, are said to be guilty of pouring used cooking oil into the drainage system. This practice was identified as a contributing factor to the overflow of the drainage and sewage, which has sparked several incidents of flooding in downtown Montego Bay.
In speaking further about security cameras in the western city, Samuels said some cameras have licence-plate recognition software installed, which is poised to become an important part of the overall crime-fighting apparatus. That equipment will be incorporated in the planned upgrade to the current system.
“... Regarding cameras and the use of technology, as it stands now, we have quite a few cameras within the city, and some cameras are equipped with that ‘plate-smart’ technology. However, as you know, technology becomes outdated, and there is a big push now to increase investment in the cameras right across the country,” said Samuels.
Against the background of the appeal to vendors by Samuels, Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon is urging business operators to obey waste disposal laws.
“We did an assessment of the waste in Montego Bay, and we discovered that 80 per cent of the waste is commercial waste. That is why we asked for a technical working group to start assessing the businesses across Montego Bay, to ensure that they have legal contracts with a private waste management company or the National Solid Waste Management Authority,” said Vernon. “To the persons who are carrying out their littering, you know there is a fine of up to $1 million for that, so you have to take heed, comply, and fall in line.”