I am leaving for Jamaica in 10 days and I just heard that a fourth policeman was shot dead in Kingston. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Help!

Easy, stay out of Kingston and you will be fine.

I would be nervous too, can you cancel? If you are staying at an all inclusive do they have other properties you can transfer your trip to possibly off Jamaica? Did you pay your vacation in full? Did you take trip insurance?

Liz you may or may not have reason to be concerned, Citizens are being shot by the police, their blocking the roadways in Montego Bay, theres been unrest in other areas over the shootings, recent severe flooding has made the island an eyesore, (just left June 5) and alot of the resorts there have been complained about all over this and other posts. The resort I went to is pretty much contained and hard to get into if your a guest so my suggestion would be to STAY there.

just leave your policeman's uniform at home.

In addition to staying out of Kingston, stay out of NY, LA, Chicago and Houston. The same thing has occurred in each in the last couple of days.

Bingo on that. Just got back from Mobay. No problem mon. Saw no sign of anything bad. Don't be paranoid. Have a good time. The island an eyesore?? I missed that somehow.

That is the problem, the whole time I was having a bad time in Jamaica was hearing the locals say "No problem Mon" I'm going to stay at home the rest of my life.

Kingston has a lot of crime, so its not advisable to travel there--is that where you're going? We had a guide take us thru the Blue Mountains to the southern area and it was a beautiful drive but in all honesty I was praying the van did not break down!

I am going to Kingston/Blue Mountains for three days and then to Montego Bay for three days. I am really nervous.

Liz, don't worry. Just be smart and stay out of trouble, which I'm sure you will do anyway. I live in NYC and there are murders and muggings every day. I have lived here for 12 years and have never had a bad experience - basically because I avoid the bad areas. If you're really nervous about Kingston, don't go, just stay at Strawberry Hill. SH is way up in the mountains & you'll be safe there.

Liz,<BR>When you say Help! in your first post, what are you looking for? What do you think someone is going to tell you through this thread that will ease your mind? <BR>What magic phrase did you expect to read that will make you stop worrying, go to Jamaica and have a good time? <BR>I can tell you right now, if you go, you will have a miserable time. Your mindset is such that nothing will go right when you get there. Every line you have to stand in will be a major nuisance. Every rasta standing on the corner will drive you to paroxysms of fear. Every noise in the night outside your room will serve to convince you that armed gangs of thugs have tracked you down and are preparing to burst through the door to commit unspeakable horrors upon you.<BR>Every bump in the road on the way through the Blues to MoBay will serve as constant reminders that you made a big mistake and should have stayed home.<BR>So now you post again and say you're still nervous. Well, thanks for sharing, but I ask again, what did you expect to receive from your post?

Why don't you just travel to Negril from Strawberry and you can probably fly from Negil to Montego. If it's true about blocking roads to Montego--go somewhere else.

HA! I bet she'll have the time of her life. I'd trade places with her in a heartbeat.

Liz,<BR><BR>Now that you're back, how did your trip go? Was it as bad as you thought? Or as good?

We went to Kingston to see the Bob Marley museum, but stayed with our cab driver, who took great care of us. I would not have missed it for the world. We are big Bob fans and wanted to see where he lived. We saw no signs of crime or violence although of course it is rampant in Kingston.

Donna,<BR><BR>She's not going to come back on this thread and tell us how it went. If she says she had a good time, it undermines her comments here and over on the 'Hey Jam-Man' posts. If she says she had a bad time, just like she was afraid of (and we told her she would because of her predisposition), she'll look foolish for having gone anyway.<BR>No, poor Liz is in a bind. I still feel sorry for her. She worked herself into a state when she had no need to.

Hope you had a good trip Liz...<BR><BR>Not to stir up the debate again, but for those interested in the topic, I thought this article was a good reality check regarding the dangers in Jamaica, written by a Jamaican living in Kingston:<BR><BR>PART I<BR><BR>I LIVE in, if not the murder capital of the world, at least in its suburbs.<BR><BR>By late September 695 persons had been killed across the island, which has just reached a population of 2.6 million - officially, that is. Of course, it is over 700 now, but that is the latest figure I have with the stats I want.<BR><BR>The St. Andrew South police division recorded 102 of these killings, St. Catherine South 69, St. Catherine North 59 and Central Kingston 58. Work out the math. That is an awful lot of murders in a very concentrated area.<BR><BR>Which is the key to the headline of this piece. I have absolutely no fear living in Kingston (St Andrew, if you want to be picky), this due in no small measure to the concentration of killings in clearly defined areas. Like the vast majority of Jamaicans, I have never seen a person killed, I have never carried an illegal weapon and have seen far more bodies in coffins than I have on the roadside.<BR><BR>Like the vast majority of Jamaicans, the crippling violence which racks the country comes home on the evening news. And then, it is so much it becomes blurred and one killing runs into another into another until it just becomes a part of everyday life.<BR><BR>Harsh, but true.<BR><BR>So I live near to the killing fields with absolutely no fear at all. I sleep with my windows open when I wish to (I know, common assault outside Kingston and St. Andrew), I come and go as I please, I was skipping outside at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday.<BR><BR>I am, however, not unusual in this regard (OK, maybe the skipping).<BR><BR>Persons who live outside the metropolitan area commonly referred to as Kingston, but which is in fact mostly St. Andrew, sometimes find it hard to believe that those who live in 'Killsome City' lead normal lives, but we do. Similarly, many who only read about Jamaica and its horrendous violence tend to think that everybody here walks around in a flak jacket.<BR><BR>This stems from a misperception that the communities - small, but densely populated - where the majority of the murders take place are Kingston and St. Andrew. Similarly, outside of the island there is the misconception that Kingston is Jamaica. We are small but rigidly separated, even in death.<BR><BR>

PART II<BR><BR>With the murder rate skyrocketing, it may be hard to believe that hordes of people go exercising around the Queen Hill area 'before day' daily, but they do. It may be hard to believe that people gather at the Esso gas station at the intersection of Barbican and Hope Roads round the clock, but they do. Asylum is packed (or, at least, there are many cars outside) on a Thursday night, sessions at Mas Camp and several other venues across the city swing, men visit women and leave in the wee hours to go home to the 'right woman,' life goes on.<BR><BR>There are those who live in a constant state of paranoia, but not me. Certainly, some of the violence is random, but a lot of it happens for a reason. In other words, if you are not 'involved,' the chances of someone sticking a Glock in your ear and giving you a brain scan diminishes considerably.<BR><BR>Therefore, one of the keys to living without fear in 'Killsome City' is to live on the straight and narrow. Don't get involved in drug runnings, gun runnings or stolen goods runnings. Just as importantly, do not keep company with anybody who is so involved. If you have a friend slogging the nine to five who suddenly turns up in an Escalade, and his rich uncle is still alive, cut him off.<BR><BR>Think of it as taking a vaccine against lead poisoning.<BR><BR>Another leading contributor to funeral home owners gleefully saying that business is dead is man and woman runnings. Joe Grine (that is a man who sleeps with another man's woman) is a rather unhealthy profession, and it is advised that if you are breaking the news to a woman that you are seeing someone else, you do not do so in the kitchen or while driving.<BR><BR>Carjacking is the primary concern of the people in my side of 'Killsome City.' I scoff at that. I drive a 1988 Suzuki Fronte - when I do drive - and I am hoping to get my dream car going shortly. It is a 1967 Ford Mustang.<BR><BR>If anybody sticks me up for any of those I will give him my deepest sympathies and offer him counselling.<BR><BR>I am not stupid about my serendipity, though. If I am coming home at 4:00 a.m. and someone turns on the avenue behind me, I drive past my gate.<BR><BR>So I live in - or, to be more precise, near - one of the world's bloodiest areas and I am not afraid. Neither do I foresee a time, barring a military coup, when I will be.<BR><BR>I am staking my life on it. Migration to a 'First World' country is just not my idea of fun and I hope I will never have to explore that option.<BR><BR>A yaso it deh.<BR><BR>Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.