St James top cop provides more on plan to reduce murders to under 100

The St James police have provided more details of its bold plan to reduce crime there, especially to record less than 100 murders in 2025, through improved community relations and the implementation of strategic changes to its internal structure.

Head of the parish’s police, Superintendent Eron Samuels, outlined some of the initiatives that are geared towards achieving the ambitious goal during Thursday's meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC).

According to Samuels, the division recorded a 33.5 per cent reduction in murders last year, with 63 fewer murders compared to 2023.

However, Samuels said the reduction is "of no way a comfort" to the police, as St James still recorded the highest number of murders among the geographical police divisions across the country last year.

"We ended the year with 63 less murders..., which is a 33.5 per cent reduction in murders.

"It's of no way a comfort to us because we still completed the year with having the most murders for the entire country, albeit that our reduction in terms of number figures was the highest recorded for all the divisions across the country," said Samuels.

He is now banking on achieving fewer than 100 murders in the division for 2025 with the help of various stakeholders.

"We, however, have indicated that we will push forward this year to see if we can bring the murder figure below 100.

"In fact, it is our intention to do that based on the trajectory, and what we are putting in place, and we do believe that with the help and partnership with the stakeholders, the strategies that we put in place in the communities, (and) we believe that working together, we can achieve this," added Samuels.

He then outlined some further elements of the police's crime strategy for 2025, which also entails improving the welfare of officers.

"We will also have a more community-based approach in terms of the activities within all of the communities within St James.

"I have started talking to, in particular, councillors to ensure that we start looking at how we can do activities within the space, to ensure that we continue the reductions," said Samuels

Additionally, changes have been made to the management of the Barnett Street Police Station, with Detective Sergeant Ricardo Clarke taking the helm.

"We, however, still have some changes we are internally looking at. We have done some shifting (in the police hierarchy there). One major one is the management of the Barnett Street Police Station. We have put a new manager in place. He is Detective Sergeant Ricardo Clarke," Samuels stated.

The parish top cop believes that reducing murders in the Barnett Street policing area, which recorded 29 murders last year, will be crucial to achieving the overall goal.

"Last year we had 29 murders within the Barnett Street (policing) space, and we believe that if we can significantly reduce this, it will aid us in achieving our objective in bringing murders below 100 in St James for 2025," declared Samuels.