Trelawny cops ready for COVID curfew enforcement

Superintendent Kirk Ricketts, commanding officer for the Trelawny Police, has declared that cops in his division are ready to enforce the seven-day islandwide curfew, which starts later today.

The measure will run from 8:00 p.m to 6:00 a.m.

"We are into educating the people by driving through the districts using the loud hailer attached to our vehicles to inform what the law requires. Moral persuasion will be the first approach. If that fails then prosecution is the next step," Ricketts explained.

Ricketts notes that the parish’s policing capacity was recently strengthened with additional manpower.

"A number of recent graduates have been assigned to the parish. Some of them are placed on beat duty and are encouraging people to follow the social distancing protocol at financial institutions and supermarkets," said Ricketts.

Within recent days, Ricketts has been spearheading efforts to ensure that police stations across the parish are being sanitised and that police personnel observe proper hygiene practices.

Meanwhile, businessman and president of the Trelawny Lay Magistrates Association Kenneth Grant says there needs to be greater police presence in South Trelawny.
 

"The area needs more police. My information is that 24 new police have been assigned to the parish and not one was sent to South Trelawny. There are occasions when only one officer is on beat duty," said Grant.

"The area has three police stations and only one vehicle. That is a recipe for failure," he added while calling for more resources to be placed in the area, which has major communities such as Ulster Spring, Albert Town, Wait-a-bit and Warsop.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Desmond Smith, the councillor for the Lorimers division in the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.

"The area is not difficult to police, but there is a need for more officers and vehicles. At the Wait-a-bit Police Station, there is no vehicle. Migration has taken four officers from the station and they have not been replaced. These situations increase the burden on the officers at the station."

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