National Arena traffic ticket clearance runs past midnight as courts struggle with backlog

Motorists who attended a two-day traffic ticket clearance exercise for Kingston and St. Andrew at the National Arena left frustrated after proceedings stretched well beyond the scheduled 7:00 p.m. closing time on both days, with many cases still unresolved after midnight on Thursday.

The event, which began at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, ended sometime after 1:00 a.m. Judges assigned to the session worked through piles of outstanding tickets inside makeshift courtrooms at the venue. Chief Justice Brian Sykes described the volume of work as extraordinary and said the experience underscored the need to digitise court records, noting that police can issue tickets faster while the courts remain burdened by paper files.

About 6,000 people registered, including roughly 4,000 with warrants. Close to 44,000 outstanding traffic tickets were among the cases handled—about five percent of the total backlog across both parishes. Communications director Kadisha Jared Fletcher said data on how many tickets were cleared was still being collected.

In St. Catherine, Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott is pressing for a review of how police record motor vehicle crashes, especially when government property is damaged. Councillor Courtney Edwards told a municipal corporation meeting that reports often focus on vehicle damage for insurers while guardrails, bridges, and other public infrastructure are left unrepaired. Scott pointed to a bridge in Central Village damaged by a truck 16 years ago that remains unrepaired.

With schools closed for summer, Clarendon police warned of increased missing-children reports and risky behaviour among minors, urging parents not to leave children unsupervised while at work.

In Manchester, police carried out targeted operations in Mandeville to recover illegal guns and clamp down on lottery scamming, taking several persons into custody from an upscale apartment on Ward Avenue. Operations officer DSP Valden Amos said there was enough evidence to charge at least four individuals. Commanding officer DSP Odin Dennis warned property owners against accepting unusually large advance rent payments from tenants.

Manchester councillors raised concerns about prolonged curfews, citing business hardship and domestic violence complaints, even as police reported an 18 percent decline in serious crimes from January 1 to July 4, 2026.

St. James police outlined security plans for Dream Weekend from July 30 to August 3 in Montego Bay. Head of division SSP Aaron Samuels said additional officers would manage traffic and airport movements, despite a 25 percent rise in murders since the start of the year.

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green announced expanded cattle-tagging measures at the Jamaica Agricultural Society's 128th general meeting in Clarendon, including an order for 130,000 additional tags and 100 community assistants to help farmers.

Electoral boundary talks for the proposed Portmore parish remain unsettled. South St. Catherine MP Fitz Jackson questioned whether the Electoral Office of Jamaica has legal authority to prescribe divisions for a parish not yet established. St. Catherine South Eastern MP Dr. Do criticised the consultation process.

Justine Greenfield, whose hands were severed by a former partner in 2017, began fittings for prosthetic limbs at a Montego Bay clinic. Surgic CEO Winfield Bob said one mechanical and one bionic hand would be provided, with the prime minister's office working to secure funding.