The E-commerce National Delivery Solution (ENDS) team has urged individuals to come forward if they have been victims of or witnessed robbers pretending to be couriers connected to the programme amid media reports of such incidents, including one that led to the death of Cavan Davis, a pan chicken vendor in Portmore, St Catherine.

Davis was one of the first vendors who participated in the programme.

“The ENDS team was devastated to learn of Cavan Davis’ tragic passing. On behalf of the team, I would like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to his family and friends,” said Amashika Lorne, project manager of ENDS.

“Of course, the JCF is conducting their investigations and we will await any further information surrounding the ordeal leading to his death. Many in Portmore showed great support for his business and I’m sure he will be missed.”

In a statement Sunday (November 7), the ENDS team stressed that the safety of all the service providers, couriers and customers who benefit from the programme was of “utmost importance to us” and that the reports were not being taken lightly.

“We encourage all victims or eyewitnesses of these incidents to make reports to the nearest police station or to Crime Stop at 311 as soon as possible to aid investigations,” the statement read.

There are currently more than 550 vendors and entities registered to operate on the ENDS and the programme said the steps taken to ensure their security and safety include the following:

• Regular meetings with the divisional heads of the Jamaica Constabulary Force about hot spots and possible areas that should be excluded for operations/deliveries based on intelligence garnered.

• Requiring payments to be done digitally to the various merchants, whether a pan-chicken vendor or a restaurant ensures that the programme remains a cashless system; wherein cash is not circulated by the employees and couriers during the curfew hours.

• Mandating that the approved couriers have all the requisite documents to operate as an authorized service provider for their various employers.

• The upgrade of the JCF Scanning App for this programme. The staging of a series of training sessions are currently under way for its deployment and implementation across all ranks in the force. This will be used in their stop-check exercises across the island during curfew hours.
  

“We also take this opportunity to remind customers to make orders earlier to allow for all the processes and transfer of information that is needed with the various businesses in a timely manner and to discontinue or refrain from giving cash to couriers who may be in possession of an approval letter to carry out orders during the curfew hours,” Lorne said.

“This not only makes them targets for criminals, but it contravenes the mechanics put in place to operate a digital solution for the safety of individuals duly approved on the programme.”

REGISTRATION PORTAL

Employees are being encouraged to display all the requisite documents that are outlined as being mandatory while operating during the curfew hours. Any employee that has been terminated and found to be abusing a digital or physical copy of an invalid approval certificate will be eligible for prosecution under the Disaster Risk Management Act.

ENDS is a registration portal for compliant businesses and delivery services to operate during the curfew hours. Any compliant business/vendor or courier will be able to operate during curfew hours once they have submitted the requisite documents, are verified, and receive approval.

Latest Statistics

• Number of vendors/entities applied – 769 
• Number of vendors/entities approved – 560 
• Number of companies applied – 322 
• Number of companies approved – 202 
• Number of employees applied – 9,099 
• Number of employees approved – 8,161
• Number of drivers applied – 549 
• Number of drivers approved – 436 

ENDS is a collaboration between the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and the Ministry of National Security.