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Jamaica’s St Thomas parish is boosting uniformed police presence along its new stretch of the Southern Coastal Highway to crack down on dangerous speeding, particularly among reckless motorcycle delivery riders, according to the division’s top law enforcement official.

Deputy Superintendent Rohan Ritchie, commanding officer of the St Thomas Police Division, announced the new enforcement measure during a regular monthly sitting of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation on Thursday. The move follows urgent public safety warnings raised by Port Morant Division Councillor Dinsdale Smith, a member of the People’s National Party, who highlighted growing community alarm over reckless operation of delivery bikes linked to local fast-food outlets.

At the center of Smith’s concerns are riders working out of the newly opened Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) location in Morant Bay’s Urban Centre. He told assembled municipal officials that local residents have grown increasingly uneasy watching riders weave erratically through congested traffic to meet delivery deadlines, warning that unchecked reckless behavior will almost certainly lead to catastrophic, fatal collisions.

“We have one of the world’s biggest food franchises newly opened here, and their delivery service is certainly efficient, but the way some of these riders use our public roads is deeply troubling,” Smith told the meeting. “I cannot understand what pushes them to ride the way they do, but I can already see catastrophic accidents on the horizon if nothing changes.”

Smith called on local police to intervene, suggesting targeted outreach and educational sessions could help riders understand how their reckless maneuvers put other road users at risk and create public nuisance. “We need to make clear that this kind of behavior cannot continue, and that fatalities are not a price we are willing to pay for fast delivery,” he added.

Ritchie acknowledged the validity of the concerns, but outlined significant operational challenges law enforcement faces when intercepting reckless motorcycle riders. Police are banned from engaging in high-speed chases, he explained, because fleeing riders often lose control and turn their bikes into dangerous weapons that can injure bystanders or other motorists. Compounding enforcement issues, Ritchie added that many of the motorcycles ridden by delivery workers carry registration plates that are not legally tied to the actual rider, making post-incident accountability difficult. Even when officers are able to catch offenders, he noted, vehicles are seized and violators are prosecuted, but the structural challenges persist.

Going forward, Ritchie said the division will pair increased visible patrols along the highway with expanded public education campaigns targeted at young motorcyclists, who make up the vast majority of delivery riders and speed-related accidents in the parish. “Data shows that most speed-related crash victims and offenders are young people, who push their bikes to the limit because they think they are invincible,” Ritchie told the chamber, drawing light laughter when he noted “At my age, I never go over 30 miles an hour.” He added that the core message of outreach will be simple: the whole point of driving is to arrive at your destination alive.

The newly completed stretch of highway that cuts through St Thomas has been a major infrastructure win for the parish, cutting travel time from Harbour View to Morant Bay from an average two hours to just 30 to 40 minutes by Ritchie’s account, smoothing out the notoriously congested route that once plagued commercial and personal travel. But better road conditions have come with an unexpected downside: they have emboldened motorists to hit dangerously high speeds, Ritchie said. Since the start of 2024, the parish has recorded four fatal collisions that left five people dead, a statistic Ritchie says demands urgent action to slow traffic down.

“We cannot overemphasize this enough: we need all motorists to slow down and take extra care on this new thoroughfare,” Ritchie said. “We are committed to doing everything in our power to curb reckless driving and prevent more preventable deaths.”

Residents of Jamaica’s Westmoreland parish, who have endured growing mountains of uncollected garbage for months, are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, as regional waste management officials have redirected emergency resources from neighboring St James to clear the crippling collection backlog.

Leona Bennett, senior public cleansing inspector for Western Parks and Markets (WPM) Waste Management Limited — the regional subsidiary of Jamaica’s National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) — outlined the emergency intervention during the monthly general meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation this week. Four additional waste collection trucks have been deployed to the parish to tackle accumulated waste, with the fleet set to remain on site until the entire backlog is eliminated, she confirmed.

“The trucks from St James began arriving last week, and they have continued working through this week, with crews on site as recently as yesterday and Friday. Regional operations manager Dramaine Jones has guaranteed that the vehicles will stay with us through next week, until every last trace of the backlog is cleared,” Bennett told assembled council members.

The temporary reassignment of vehicles is just one pillar of a broader, multi-pronged strategy to reverse Westmoreland’s waste crisis. To accelerate collection efforts, WPM has also extended operating hours by ramping up night shift services, with collection trucks now servicing main roads and residential communities after standard business hours.

“Local residents can confirm for themselves that our trucks have been active in their neighborhoods overnight. We are pulling out all the stops to erase this backlog as quickly as we possibly can,” Bennett said.

Alongside emergency collection measures, the agency is running ongoing bulky waste removal campaigns and community public education programs designed to curb persistent illegal dumping, one of the root causes of the parish’s waste management struggles. Bennett emphasized that long-term cleanliness depends on active participation from local residents, urging the public to take greater responsibility for waste disposal.

“We are asking everyone to take pride in our parish and properly contain all waste. If you are transporting waste, please dispose of it at designated communal bins instead of leaving it in unauthorized areas,” she said.

Bennett acknowledged that illegal dumping remains a persistent blight on Westmoreland’s communities, noting that the problem adds unnecessary strain to already stretched resources. “It slows our progress clearing the backlog when we constantly find new piles of illegally dumped waste on main roads and public spaces, left by people from across the parish,” she explained.

In a long-awaited update on a critical permanent infrastructure project, Bennett also confirmed that the long-delayed Westmoreland waste transfer station has finally entered the construction preparation phase. First announced back in 2014, the project has faced years of unanticipated delays that pushed its original 2024 operational target back, but site work is now officially underway. The project site has been fully cleared, and crews are currently laying base material for the facility’s foundation.

“Once the foundation work is complete, construction of the facility’s core infrastructure will proceed without further delays, and we will provide regular updates to the municipal corporation on progress,” Bennett said.

Local councillors welcomed the news of the transfer station’s progress, highlighting the transformative impact the facility will have on the parish’s long-term waste management capacity. Ian Myles, Jamaica Labour Party councillor for the Little London Division, called the start of construction a major milestone for Westmoreland.

“We all understand how vital this facility is for our parish, so to hear that construction is finally underway is incredibly exciting. Located just five minutes from Georges Plain, the transfer station will streamline waste hauling from central, eastern and western Westmoreland before waste is sent on to Montego Bay, and it will give us far more capacity to keep the entire parish clean,” Myles said.

In Ocho Rios, St Ann, Jamaica, local municipal authorities are moving forward with punitive measures against developers who have defied an official stop work order to complete an unapproved commercial building along Moneague’s main thoroughfare. The St Ann Municipal Corporation confirmed this week that the project has proceeded without any submitted building plans or mandatory safety inspections, putting the structure in direct violation of the island’s national Building Act. CEO Jennifer Brown-Cunningham outlined the corporation’s next steps during the body’s regular monthly meeting Thursday, noting that legal action will be filed in court as soon as the municipal superintendent wraps up additional on-site investigations. “A number of developers ignore our stop orders and continue building illegally, but this case will not be swept under the rug,” Brown-Cunningham said. “It is now our responsibility to bring this matter before the court and enforce our local building regulations.” Located near the Four Roads intersection on Moneague’s main road, the completed structure is laid out for commercial use, with local leaders estimating its base footprint measures at least 5,000 square feet, indicating it is intended to operate as a supermarket or commercial plaza. Multiple sitting councillors have raised urgent public safety and infrastructure concerns about the unregulated project. Moneague Division Councillor Lloyd Garrick, of the People’s National Party, pointed out that the construction has fully blocked the public sidewalk, eliminating safe passage for pedestrians, while construction debris has been dumped illegally into a nearby public drain. He also noted that the roadside building provides no dedicated customer parking, creating additional traffic hazards for the busy main road. Echoing growing frustration across the municipal body, Mayor of St Ann’s Bay Michael Belnavis emphasized that the corporation bears a legal and ethical obligation to protect public safety, and willful disregard for official regulatory directives will not be tolerated. “We cannot allow unapproved commercial buildings to operate in this parish when we cannot guarantee the safety of the people who will enter them,” Belnavis said. “If we do not enforce building codes, especially when it comes to structural resilience for natural disasters like earthquakes, it is only a matter of time before a tragedy occurs where people are trapped or killed.” The mayor confirmed that the most extreme outcome under consideration is full demolition of the unauthorized structure, and urged all future developers to follow the proper approval process to avoid similar consequences. Beecher Town Division Councillor Ian Bell, also of the PNP, called the unpermitted construction a deliberate insult to the municipal corporation’s regulatory authority. He noted that the full plaza was built in plain sight along the heavily travelled main road, not in a remote, unmonitored area, adding that he first raised concerns about the project a month prior after receiving multiple complaints from local residents. Bell also told attendees he received a threatening call urging him to drop his scrutiny of the project, a demand he rejected. “I will only back off if I can confirm this building was constructed to code,” Bell said. “Right now, it is fully complete and preparing to open without a single approval from this body, which is an unacceptable failure of regulation that cannot stand.”

In Montego Bay, St James, a local motorist’s misguided attempt to bribe a police officer to avoid traffic penalties has resulted in a far heftier financial penalty than he ever expected. 56-year-old Eric Buchanan faced sentencing last Wednesday before Judge Natiesha-Fairclough Hylton at the St James Parish Court, where he was ordered to pay a combined $75,000 in fines across four separate offenses, after his $10,000 bribe offer backfired spectacularly.

Details of the incident, which have now been laid out in open court, show that uniformed police officers on routine mobile patrol first spotted Buchanan violating road rules by ignoring a posted one-way traffic sign. Pulling the driver over, officers requested his standard operating documentation: a valid driver’s license, proof of insurance coverage, and a current vehicle fitness certificate. Upon inspection, officers quickly confirmed that Buchanan lacked two required documents: a valid insurance certificate and an up-to-date fitness certificate for his vehicle.

After being instructed to gather and submit all required paperwork, Buchanan eventually handed a folder of documents to the attending officer. The officer immediately noticed two $5,000 banknotes folded inside the cover of the insurance documents, court records confirm. Prosecutors allege that Buchanan explicitly encouraged the officer to accept the cash, saying in local patois: “Officer, yuh done see wha a gwaan? Tek this and gwaan officer, yuh done see wha a gwaan” — a clear request for the officer to look past his violations in exchange for the hidden $10,000 bribe.

Buchanan was taken into custody on bribery charges immediately after the attempted payoff. During his court appearance, the motorist pushed back against the bribery allegation, claiming the entire situation was a misunderstanding. He argued that the hidden cash was not a bribe, but a “gesture” to reward the officer for what he claimed was assistance helping him exit a nearby car park. He added that heavy rain had created confusion around the traffic stop, but his explanation was inconsistent and difficult for the court to corroborate.

Judge Fairclough-Hylton rejected Buchanan’s version of events entirely, and handed down stacked penalties to send a clear message about corruption attempts targeting law enforcement. For the bribery charge alone, Buchanan was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine or serve 30 days in prison in default of payment. Additional penalties were imposed for his other traffic violations: $20,000 fine (or 10 days’ jail) for driving without valid insurance, $17,000 fine (or 10 days) for operating an unfit vehicle, and $8,000 fine (or 10 days) for disobeying the one-way traffic sign — bringing the total mandatory fine to $75,000, seven and a half times the value of the original bribe Buchanan tried to offer.