Police must be equipped to work… no matter what
Among the more security-vulnerable roads in south-central Jamaica is a lonely, 10-mile stretch on the Manchester coastline, from the border with Clarendon in the east to Alligator Pond in the west.
Usually badly scoured and potholed, the little-used road, through scantily populated areas, separates the Caribbean Sea from scrub- and forest-covered limestone hills.
It’s a road to hidden attractions, not least the enchanting Gut River, which is located roughly midway between Alligator Pond, close to Manchester’s border with St Elizabeth, and Alligator Hole on the Clarendon border.
Many would-be visitors to areas on that southern coastal road hesitate because of its isolation and the poor road surface. To compound the situation, there are serious challenges in getting cellphone connectivity at the best of times.
Also, reports have long indicated that criminals favour that lonely link from Clarendon, through Manchester, to St Elizabeth and points west.
From time to time, police in south-central Jamaica have been moved to give assurances that the coastal road and wider southern Manchester, including remote communities such as Plowden, Resource, Morley Hill, and Asia, are under careful watch.
Hence our utter consternation at reports that, up to Thursday, more than three weeks after the passage of Hurricane Beryl, not only is south Manchester without light and power but police stations at Cross Keys and Asia are also in darkness.
Worse, they are without capacity to communicate by phone/radio with the outside world.
A source told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday that the police are appealing for assistance as they are left exposed with no form of communication.
“The phones and radio are not working at the stations. We have no form of communication with them, if they even come under attack we don’t even know,” the source, described as credible, told our reporter Mr Kasey Williams.
“People calling the station and the phone (call) not going through. There is no water. Police living at the barracks cannot iron their clothes,” the source added.
We are left to wonder how many other police stations are similarly challenged.
Surely, short-term solutions should have had priority attention from the police high command and the Ministry of National Security.
As it has turned out, it is the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) aspirant for Manchester Southern, Mr Peter Bunting, a former national security minister, who has pointed to the obvious: That the authorities “…must get [electricity] generators to those stations…”
And further, that generators “could easily” be redeployed from locations unaffected by the storm to police stations at Cross Keys and Asia and, we daresay, wherever there is the need.
Immediately after the storm, in early July, there were calls for crime-prone communities to be given priority for power restoration since it’s well established that criminals thrive in the dark.
Reports from sections of the country without electricity have indicated rising criminality, including murders, robberies and shop breaking.
The need is crystal clear that, even as we strive to urge our utility providers to go way faster than has been the case in restoring services, alternate measures must be taken to ensure the security forces can do their jobs.