Senior cop urges formation of social media groups to help fight crime Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

With a rise in the number of murders and robberies in Manchester, the police are urging residents of the parish to utilise social media and form alliances to alert their fellow citizens, as well as law enforcers, of criminal activities within their communities.

The grim developments on the crime front in one of Jamaica’s rapidly developing southern parishes and possible solutions to the issue were highlighted by sub-officer in charge of the police’s Community Safety and Security Branch in Manchester, Inspector Berthlyn Lloyd.

In addressing Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation, Lloyd said there have been increases in most of the seven major crime categories in the parish.

Specifically, there were 37 murders recorded across the parish since the start of the year, along with 81 robberies.

“One of the challenges we’re seeing – some of these murders are committed by persons coming from outside of the parish and the crimes are not only in one area. It is spread right across the parish,” Lloyd disclosed.

“So the community groups will have to help us, because gone are the days when we could say it (the crime) is confined to one area. It is right across the parish,” she added.

The law enforcer said the police are noticing that the crimes are not being perpetrated by one individual, but rather, “small groups of persons”.

Continuing, she said: “Some of the criminals now have become so sophisticated that some of the break-ins that we are having, they are using welding torch to get into the buildings.”

Against that background, Lloyd is reiterating her call for persons to get involved in community groups and install security cameras, “because this can help us.

“If we are unable to catch them (the criminals) on spot, at least this will help us in the investigations,” she pointed out.

Another recommendation made by the inspector is for citizens to create WhatsApp groups.

“We also encourage persons to have WhatsApp groups with the community members, so that persons can be informed of happenings in the area(s), and this they can do to help to alert persons of what is happening in the area,” she said.

Additionally, she pointed out that the use of the WhatsApp groups can alert the police to happenings “in a timely manner because, as you know, communities are large.

“… And we are few in numbers and most of our stations are equipped with one service vehicle,” Lloyd stated.

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