Commish to expand Mo-Bay Street Crime Unit

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:
Police Commissioner Owen Ellington is seeking to expand the Street Crime Unit in Montego Bay, St James in light of its success in nabbing lottery scammers and other criminals and seizing their assets.

The Street Crime Unit is a combination of detectives and regular police personnel who overtly and covertly patrol the city of Montego Bay to ensure the safety and security of citizens.

They deal with robberies, larceny, extortionist, scammers and lower level crimes.

“The Street Crime Unit has been fully established and it is the unit that made the early dent on the lottery scammers arresting a significant amount of them, seizing assets, and money,” the commissioner of police said at the official re-opening of the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay on Friday.

“It seems to me that we may have to expand the size of the unit in Montego Bay given the scale of criminal activities that is going on down here,” he stated.

In 2011, Denver Frater who was an assistant commissioner of police at the time, lobbied for the establishment of a Street Crime Unit to effectively deal with criminal activities in the tourism capital.

The police station located at 14 Barnett Street is an ideal location for the Street Crime Unit because of its proximity to the town.

The Street Crime Unit previously operated from the Freeport Police Station.

editorial@gleanerjm.com