WESTERN BUREAU:

The Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and the St James Parish Council have pledged their support to the police in their bid to curb the out-of-control crime rate.

During a regular monthly meeting of the St James Parish Council last Thursday, councillors Homer Davis and Michael Troupe said their positions made them privy to information that citizens sometimes do not readily share with the police.

"If the police meet with the chamber, we can share information that is crucial to the police, but we have to have a committee where we can get feedback.

"We need to be on the same page as the police in fighting crime," Troupe told the council.

Multiple killings

Davis lamented that the parish had surpassed last year's record of 188 murders after four persons were slain in Green Pond last week Wednesday night.

Said Davis: "When we have this type of upsurge in crime, we need to meet as a council to discuss with the Police High Command how we can assist," adding that the members of parliament in St James should join the thrust.

"It is a crisis!" Davis declared.

Smith blasts police

Lloyd B. Smith, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, blasted the police for not being proactive in responding to abduction scares haunting St James and other parishes throughout Jamaica.

"They should not treat any rumour or call lightly, but should pursue them to the very end," said Smith. "They can't just wait until something happens and then just rush to the scene.

"They ought to be out there, undercover and gathering intelligence and building a profile of these types of murders, because there's a pattern that has been emerging."

The police have rubbished suggestions of a rise in kidnappings, saying many of the reports were false alarms as well as pranks. The constabulary has also discounted claims by clergymen that cultism has led to an upsurge in grisly murders.