State Of Emergency In St Catherine North After Gangsters Claim 48 Lives In 76 Days
The U.S. Embassy in Kingston advises U.S. citizens that, effective March18, the Government of Jamaica has declared a State of Public Emergency covering portions of St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica, based on escalating criminal activity and threats to public safety and the rule of law. The State of Public Emergency, declared under the 1966 Emergency Powers Act, allows Jamaican security forces within the borders of St. Catherine Parish to arbitrarily detain and deport suspicious persons, enter premises, and seize property without warrant. Expect to encounter increased police and military presence, checkpoints, and searches of persons and vehicles within the borders of St. Catherine Parish.
“The St Catherine North Division has the largest gang in the island, the Clansman gang. This gang has been responsible for scores of murders, robberies and extortion, not only in St Catherine,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake said yesterday on his final day as acting commissioner.
The State of Public Emergency covers the following area of St. Catherine Parish:
Northern boundary – from the intersection of the St. Catherine, St. Ann, and Clarendon Parish boundaries and running east toward Garfield Road to the Moneague leg of the North-South Highway, to Guy’s Hill square;
Eastern boundary – from the parish boundary, running south to Sligoville to the intersection of Highway 2000, to Lakes Pen Road, Port Henderson Road, Salt Pond Road, and to the Hill Run main road;
Southern boundary – from the Hartland main road to the Hill Run main road;
Western boundary – from the parish boundary running south to Ginger Ridge to Blue Hole to Marley Hill to Dover Road, and to the intersection of PJ Patterson Highway and then to the Hartland main road.
