Davis bats for additional police and fire stations
Published:Monday | October 11, 2021 | 12:06 AMBy Christopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
The constituency of St James Southern makes up 54 per cent of the mass of the parish of St James and is spread over 325 square kilometres, with a population of about 40,000 people. These were some of the arguments advanced by Member of Parliament Homer Davis, in making his case for the establishment of at least one more police station and two mini fire stations in the constituency, during his contribution to the Constituency Debate last Tuesday.
He told the House of Representatives that the three police stations at Anchovy, Cambridge and Maroon Town are inadequate to serve the needs of this once-quiet constituency, which has seen a steady increase in homicides. However, he did not provide any data in support of this statement.
“This challenge could be the result of the high level of unemployment among the youth in the constituency and, as the saying goes, ‘the devil always finds work for idle hands,’” Davis noted. “We are on a mission to change this and have been working with several state agencies, to include HEART Trust/NSTA, in providing training in various skills which will make the residents employable.”
The first-term MP is, however, convinced that stronger police presence in the constituency will go a far way in addressing the crime problem.
“In addition, boots on the ground could also play a role in curbing crime and violence, and so I am moving for at least one additional police station to be established in the constituency. The proposal is that the teacher’s cottage at Niagara Primary School, which has been unoccupied for some time, should be retrofitted and converted into a police station to accommodate members of the security forces,” he stated.
NO SILVER BULLET
Davis said that Jamaica’s crime challenge did not happen overnight and there was no silver bullet that could be used to fix the problem, so the solution has to be a work in progress. He gave the assurance that the mission to focus on the high number of unattached youth would continue to receive priority attention.
The former mayor of Montego Bay called for the establishment of two mini fire stations, one in Maroon Town, which is about 40 minutes’ drive from the parish capital; and another in Cambridge, which is about 30 minutes away.
“The establishment of these mini fire stations, outfitted with basic firefighting equipment and an ambulance, will attend to any emergency until the bigger units arrive from Montego Bay, saving lives and property,” he reasoned.