MONTEGO BAY, St James – Concerned about the runaway crime rate in the north-western parish of St James, the University of the West Indies, Mona, Western Jamaica Campus, is set to collaborate with the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), to undertake research on the crime epidemic afflicting the parish.

“The Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, they have been talking about doing a research in crime, in collaboration with the University of the West Indies. We are still working on that,” Director of UWI Mona, Western Jamaica Campus, Patrick Prendergast revealed.

“The discussions around that [research] are still ongoing, but we are definitely going to. It’s just an example of the areas that we need to get involved as academics. So we are working on getting that research done.”

Prendergast was speaking on Tuesday during a media appreciation breakfast, hosted in Montego Bay by the university.

During the MBCCI Annual General Meeting in April, Gloria Henry, who was returned unopposed as president, expressed that on the agenda for the 2016/17 calendar year, would be a “crime study with UWI and increased use of intelligence in crime-fighting”.

She indicated then that the discussions along that line have been in progress since her first term as president.

“We commenced engagement with UWI Western Campus for the development of a research proposal on an empirical study into causes of crime in St James, with a view to informing policy on intervention and other crime-fighting measures,” Henry remarked, while listing the achievements of the chamber during her first stint at the helm.

At Tuesday’s media appreciation breakfast, Prendergast revealed that some students would be writing reflective essays on the crime situation in Montego Bay for a magazine to be published by the university.

“One of the things that they are working on is a magazine that would reflect some of the issues the students face, living and studying in Montego Bay. And so, the first one is going to be a series of reflective essays on crime,” the university director stated.

Last month the murder tally in St James surpassed the 200 mark since the start of the year, following one of the bloodiest weeks in the parish’s modern history, which saw close to 20 people murdered.

The flare-up triggered a strong response from the authorities, who ramped up security personnel in crime hot spots in the parish.

During a subsequent press conference called by Commissioner Dr Carl Williams at the Montego Bay Freeport Police Station, Major Murphy Price of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) revealed that three companies of soldiers were deployed to assist the police in St James.

“As it relates to the most recent upsurge in violence, the Jamaica Defence Force had previously committed a company of soldiers to conduct operations in St James, and the Chief of Defence Staff has reassigned many of the troops that are operating elsewhere in the country to St James. Therefore, we have brought two more companies of soldiers to operate with the St James police,” he told reporters.

He noted that in addition to the manpower, the JDF has also brought “certain operational planning capabilities to assist our police counterparts”.

“We have also brought along some augmentation of the intelligence services that are here. We brought in what we consider specialist capabilities that would not normally reside here. For instance we brought in an aircraft to assist with operations at day and night and we also brought in some armoured personnel carriers,” the army man stated.

“So we are supporting the police efforts in a very significant way. And we will continue to support those efforts.”

In the meantime, commander of the St James Police Division, Senior Superintendent Marlon Nesbeth, told members of the media that “we are in a crisis and we intend to deal with it effectively”.

He added that initiatives launched since the recent flare-up in St James were already yielding success.