Police assure that Bath area in St Thomas safe amid recent concerns

Responding to public discourse about the safety of Bath in St Thomas and the popular Bath Fountain attraction, the police in the division are assuring the public that the area is safe.

Inspector Donald Burke, speaking to residents at a community forum at the Bath Primary School on January 28, said: “I would have seen headlines like ‘Extortion in Bath’, ‘Stay away from Bath’, ‘Bath is not safe’. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that that is not so.”

“Bath is a safe place. I can say this. It’s one of the safest communities in Jamaica (and) one of the safest communities in St Thomas. In 2025, we recorded three major crimes. We did not lose anyone to violence, we didn’t have any murders,” the inspector declared.

He called on residents to help the police in dealing with any unfair acts which may be taking place at the Bath Fountain by unscrupulous persons.

“Not everything that we do which is not right is criminal. Some things are just unfair and unreasonable. (Do not) turn a blind eye because we would have to now look at or introduce some form of security measures to combat what is happening, if something is indeed happening, in terms of visitors to our community being put in serious fear,” Burke said.

In the meantime, he also called on the assistance of citizens in curbing reckless driving in the community, pointing out that in 2025, three persons died from motor vehicle accidents.

“We had none here before and we continue to see and get complaints of persons driving their motorcycle in a reckless manner, disobeying road safety code practices, disobeying the law, and with little regard for even school children who are using the roadways. That is something, again, I’m asking you to partner with the police to help us treat with these situations,” the Inspector said.

He also raised concern that the community is being plagued by stray animals which are also contributing to road crashes.

The inspector denounced the response of some community members to attack or injure these animals, pointing out that, “it’s not balancing the situation (and) it’s also an offence to cause cruelty to animals.”

“We are asking the owners of these animals to please secure them. We cannot afford to lose any life because of your unwillingness to secure, protect and properly care for your animals,” the inspector said.

- JIS News

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