Westmoreland neighbourhood watch group says SOE is a waste of time

The Westmoreland Neighbourhood Watch Council says the state of emergency declared in the parish is a waste of time.

“I always have a problem with a state of emergency, because at the end of it you don't reap any success,” said Lyndon Johnson, president of the neighbourhood watch group. 

He argued that there has been no real, significant benefit from SOEs over the years.

In announcing the police-military measure on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said gang activities in the spaces where the SOEs have been declared are "cause for grave concern".

But Johnson, who led a peace march, over two weeks ago, in response to the high murder rate in the parish, which has recorded 130 cases of homicides since January 2022, believes the police and military personnel operating under the SOE need to change their approach.

“I believe that states of emergency should be done community by community, and try to find these guns and the persons who are committing the crimes,” he told The Gleaner. 

Moses Chybar, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has thrown his support behind the SOE as an interim tool, but notes that it is not the solution to the escalating crime and violence in the parish. 

- Albert Ferguson

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