Chairman of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) Godfrey Dyer says the state of emergency should remain, until murders are down to 16 per 100,000.

In giving his support to Tuesday’s extension of the states of emergency in St. James, Westmoreland and Hanover for a further 90 days until October 28, Dyer says the state of emergency must remain in place until murder has reached a tolerable level.

Noting that Jamaica’s murder rate has surpassed the tolerable standard of 7 and 16 per 100,000 in the world and in the Caribbean region, respectively, he says Jamaica must use every effort to reduce its murder rate to that of the Caribbean or below.

The TEF Chairman says Police Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson has noted  that the police force is not able to stem the flow of murders and other crimes on its own, and will need the  assistance of  the military, through special powers under the state of emergency.

He was delivering the keynote address at the media launch for the eighteenth staging of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and industry expo 2019, at the S Hotel in Montego bay, yesterday.