Police Commissioner Dr. Carl Williams - file photo
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Police Commissioner Dr. Carl Williams
Police Commissioner Dr. Carl Williams has said major crimes in Jamaica continue to decline despite the situation affecting western Jamaica, particularly St. James.
He said, however, the problem is with violence as evidenced by the increase in murders.
Dr. Williams says the country has an anger problem.
Addressing a Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) breakfast Tuesday morning, the police commissioner said with about 920 murders committed so far this year, there is an increase of two per cent over 2015.
Although acknowledging that the problem is a national one, Dr. Williams singled out St. James as a major contributor to the increase in murders.
He also confirmed a report carried by RJR News on Monday that Clarendon has the second highest number of murders. It was followed by Westmoreland and St. Catherine North.
In the meantime, the police commissioner said the authorities are working to bring crime and violence in St. James under control.
He lamented that the upsurge in the parish has disturbed the efforts in having a tenable decline in crime.
"If St. James had just held steady this year, we would have seen a reasonable decline...but (St. James) is the achilles heel of all the efforts that we now exert every day in Jamaica to get on top of the problem," he bemoaned.
He added that gang violence is part of the reason for the murders in rural areas.
There are about 300 active gangs across the island.
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