We are getting the job done

Addressing a town meeting, hosted by Eastern Division police at the Manzanilla Secondary School on Wednesday, Nelson told residents the probability of someone committing a crime and escaping “is very narrow.” “Our solve rate in the Eastern Division is 57 per cent. So that 57 per cent of all the crimes are solved...There is only one division ahead of us and that is South-Western Division,” he said.

“This is not a flux or it is not done by luck.

It is achieved by hardcore policing. You have police officers who are committed to the task, who are honest and who have integrity and it is dependent on proper, good leadership.” Nelson, who was among a slew of high-ranking officers who attended the meeting, mentioned the contributions of three of his officers in containing crime in the division.

He said Insps Ken Lutchman and Alexis Garcia were leading the fight. Alexis, he said, had the responsibility to ensure the police had evidence to secure convictions.

Nelson also extended kudos to Sgt Alana Lopez, whom he said, has kept a handle on crime in Valencia, one of the country’s hotspots.

“We do not have office colonels here in the Eastern Division. We have field marshals and sometimes the best man for a job is woman,” he said of Lopez.

“Sgt Lopez is in charge of the Task Force in area north. It consists of Valencia, which is the hotbed in the entire Eastern Division.

“These are the people who protect and serve you while you are asleep in the night.”