PORT MARIA, St Mary — Encouraged by the 25 per cent reduction in murders while his predecessor was in office, the constabulary’s recently assigned commanding officer for St Mary, Acting Superintendent Anthony Wallace has his sights set on slashing the figure even more.

According to him, most of the killings are related to domestic issues.

“We are still not out of the woods. We are going to work closely with the communities to build a bond to help identify some of these problems,” he said during a recent town hall meeting hosted by St Mary Municipal Corporation, in the Boscobel Division.

“St Mary, as we normally know, it is a safe parish… it is family oriented — and we want to get it back to that level,” said Wallace.

The senior cop said the division has already been allocated additional resources to execute a strategy of having a more visible police presence in town centres. Wallace told residents that he is committed to fighting crime and keeping the parish free from unwanted elements.

He also assured them that he is aware of and has plans to alleviate traffic snarls in areas that have insufficient public parking.

“With the Yuletide approaching, the police — along with the municipal corporation — will be working closely together to alleviate these issues,” Wallace promised.