Ground will be broken for the construction of the Westmoreland and St. Catherine North divisional headquarters of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) within this financial year, which ends March 31.

Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen made the disclosure as he delivered the Throne Speech at the ceremonial opening of Parliament on February 15 under the theme ‘Towards a Peaceful, Productive and Prosperous Jamaica’.

He noted that the projects are part of the Government’s reform agenda for the JCF.

He said the Andrew Holness Administration continues to outfit the security forces with resources to maintain law and order, and investments are being made in major technology with the continued upgrade and expansion of the JamaicaEye network, the Traffic Ticket Management System and the microwave and radio networks for the JCF.

Infrastructural reforms to national security facilities also continue, with a further 26 police stations renovated to date and the construction of the National Forensic Pathology Autopsy Suite near completion.

Sir Patrick further explained that the Government continues to make significant progress in modernising the anti-crime legislative framework through the passage of the Law Reform (Zones of Special Operations and Special Community Development Measures) Amendment Act.

“The Amendments to the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act and Aliens Act, which are now at advanced stages, will strengthen our national border management framework and support the wider territorial and sovereign protection reforms,” he said.

Meanwhile, the governor-general asserted that the crime-fighting strategy has yielded notable success, as Jamaica recorded a 7.8 per cent reduction in homicides and an aggregate 11 per cent reduction in all crime categories for 2023 compared to 2022.