Senior JP declares volatile Grange Hill safe to live and do business

WESTERN OFFICE:

Yvonne Thorpe-Sonlin, chair of Justices of the Peace’s Grange Hill Zone, says the recent crackdown on criminal gangs by security forces means the rural community is now a much safer place to live and do business.

“There are far more decent citizens living in Grange Hill than those who exhibit unacceptable behavior,” said Thorpe-Sonlin, who recently spoke at an appreciation event honoring three retired police officers at Grange Hill Baptist Church. “Things are not as bad as they were years ago or early this year.”

According to the senior justice of the peace, Grange Hill, which erupted in violence earlier this year when the infamous King Valley gang and the Ants gang, both based in the community, engaged in a bloody gang war that left several people dead . shot and killed, is now free from hostility.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) had to send in strong reinforcements as even the community’s students were targeted by the marauding gangsters, many of whom walked around with guns in broad daylight. However, after several fatal confrontations between gangsters and the police, the community has become quiet.

“It’s not all that bad…. . Grange Hills is not as bad as people on the periphery would have you believe,” said Thorpe-Sonlin. “Grange Hill is a community like any other, which has had good and bad experiences, but right now the good outweighs the bad here in this community.”

Carlington ‘Tommy’ Godfrey, who had emerged as a feared gangster and laid siege to Grange Hill, where he engaged police in several gunfights, was killed in an alleged shootout with police on September 6, ending his reign of terror . and bringing back some semblance of peace to the community.

Earlier this month, Westmoreland Police Division commander Chief Inspector Othniel Dobson told the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation that police efforts to track down and arrest wanted men and individuals with illegal firearms were finally seeing great success.

SEVERAL ARRESTS

According to him, the joint efforts of the Westmoreland Police, and other Area One formations, and the military have resulted in the arrest of several known gangsters and the seizure of illegal firearms.

Warren Lyttleton, People’s National Party councilor for the Grange Hill division, said the work of the police had allowed his constituents to walk freely, especially since Godfrey’s death.

“On behalf of the concerned citizens of the Grange Hill Division, I express our appreciation for the work you and your team of police officers and women are doing in the space,” Lyttleton told police.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Jordane Allen, the zone three commander of the Westmoreland Police Division, told residents that police will increase their presence in the community to ensure that gangsters can no longer dominate the space.

“We will increase our operational activities to ensure that those contributing to disorder in society are arrested and brought to justice. We will increase our corporate engagement and our community walkthroughs so that we will have more interaction with you, the citizens,” said Allen.

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