The U.S. State Department has issued an advisory to its citizens, urging them to reconsider travel to Jamaica due to the level of crime in the country.
In an update to their website on Wednesday, the Department of State says violence and shootings occur regularly in many neighbourhoods, communities, and parishes across Jamaica.
Mahiri Stewart reports..
The State Department says US government personnel are prohibited from travelling to many areas in Jamaica due to increased risk.
It says violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults and homicides, are common, while sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts.
The State Department says local police often do not respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.
It says when arrests are made, cases are infrequently prosecuted to a conclusive sentence.
According to the advisory, families of U.S. citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently wait a year or more for final death certificates to be issued by Jamaican authorities.
It added that emergency services and hospital care vary throughout the island, as well as response times and quality of care.
U.S. government personnel are prohibited from using public buses and driving outside of prescribed areas of Kingston at night.
It says they’re also banned from travelling to sections or all of eleven named parishes in the country.
These include sections of St. Ann, St. Catherine, Hanover, St. Elizabeth, Kingston and St. Andrew, Manchester, St. Thomas, Westmoreland, Clark’s Town in Trelawny, all of Montego Bay in St. James and all of Clarendon.
