Troupe wants to know if St James cops are taking a break

WESTERN BUREAU:

Councillors at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation expressed alarm at the spate of murders that have rocked the parish in recent weeks, including three double murders over the past two weeks.

Michael Troupe, the councillor for the Granville division, questioned whether the police were falling short in their crime-fighting efforts even as he proposed anti-crime suggestions to Montego Bay Mayor Leeroy Williams.

“Over the last couple of weeks, we have had three double-murders, and it seems to me that there is a pattern because they are not going for one person. Now, they are going for two or three. If the police in St James could have done so well before, what is happening now? Are they taking a break?” asked Troupe, who is renowned for colourful ways of addressing issues.

“Something is wrong, and it cannot be that this is an ‘up and down’ thing. As the mayor of Montego Bay, I want you to get the police post by the Charles Gordon Market reactivated even if it is two police persons there, and then I am asking you to have a summit in private with the police, in-camera, and see if we can assist them,” added Troupe.

NOT BEING TARDY

In responding to Troupe, Williams, who is chairman of the corporation, argued that the police’s job of fighting crime is not an easy task, adding that he believed that they were not being tardy.

“What I can tell you is that crime-fighting is an extremely difficult task. It is not that the police are not trying as they are working very hard, and they are doing a good job, but the reality is that you cannot stop people from killing each other,” said Williams.

Troupe’s concerns about the spate of murders in St James comes on the heels of Wednesday’s double murder in the Canaan community near Dumfries in which 30-year-old Andre ‘Powerman’ Brown and 24-year-old Romaine ‘Riddim Foot’ Melville were killed by gangsters armed with M16 assault rifles.

That double murder was preceded by Monday’s double murder in Mt Salem, in which gunmen breached the zone of special operation in the community and killed 35-year-old Gavin Mills and 24-year-old Bowe Downer. In what was believed to be an act of reprisal for Monday’s killings, 45-year-old meat shop operator Clive Lawson was killed in the proximity of where the double murder took place.

Responding specifically to Troupe’s suggestion for the police post at the Charles Gordon Market, Williams said that such a move would not be practical as the police did not believe it would be a good idea.

“On the matter of the police post at the market, I have had discussions with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and they feel that it is not a good idea to have the police based there at the market. The population would be better served if they frequently move in and out as they are short of police personnel,” explained Williams.

Since the start of this year, St James has recorded 61 murders.