St James police ramp up efforts to seize illegal guns

ST JAMES, Jamaica — The St James Police Division is crediting its ongoing success at seizing illegal firearms to ramped up efforts on the ground.

"What we can attribute this to is the increase in operational activities. We have increased our operational tempo targeting persons aligned to gangs, wanted persons and persons who are of interest to us for various crimes, serious and violent crimes at that," Operations Officer for the Division, Deputy Superintendent, Rodrick Reid told the Jamaica Observer.

"From July 1, 2026 to present, 22 firearms have been recovered and 2,024 rounds of ammunition recovered. [On Monday] we seized a mini AR-15, last week was two rifles and a pistol and I think the week before two pistols as well," he added.

When added to the numbers for January to June 30 this year, total seizures in 2026 stand at 51 illegal firearms and 2,295 rounds of ammunition.

Monday’s seizure – a .223 Wylde mini rifle with a magazine containing 13 rounds – was in the Gut Hill community of Granville. Two individuals were taken into custody following the seizure.

In the past, St James has had the unwelcome title of being the most violent parish in Jamaica but, according to Reid, significant gains are being made by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

"Persons who we have an interest in, as it relates to murders and shooting, we have been targeting operationally over the past two or so months to bring them in and also to seize all of the illegal weapons that, based on intelligence, we would have garnered that they have in their possession," he said.

He explained that cops are relentless in their efforts to get illegal weapons, and those holding them, off the streets.

"Pretty much daily, we do four to five targeted operations geared at these persons," Reid said.

"Outside of that we have also increased our stop and search exercises, our vehicular checkpoint and coordinated roadblocks. All of these strategies have been working for us to remove these illegal weapons from the communities and also the streets daily in St James," he added.

However, despite that success, cops are not happy with the murder figures. Up to September 5, the most up to date JCF data, there were 45 murders recorded in St James. That is three more than the numbers for the comparable period last year.

"The murders that we are experiencing are those of an interpersonal nature: the family setting, brother and brother, husband and wife, baby mother and baby father, those disputes’ end results give us murders. [That] is really affecting us now," Reid lamented.

"We cannot police everywhere, especially those scenarios that would warrant the police to be inside a person's house to ensure that the conflicts don't become deadly," he added.

He however noted that they have made significant gains in a previous area of concern, making things difficult for organised crime and criminal elements.

"Those that border on gang activity, we have significantly reduced those; occupying the spaces, going at the bad guys. That has been working for us," Reid remarked.

"We continue to target the persons who we know have [illegal guns]; we go at them continuously. The gangs, the gang members, those that are associated with the gangs, and spaces [where] we know that they try to hide the firearms; we go at those," he assured.