The Extra Duty Police Officer programme, which was introduced in October 2020 to enable high-visibility policing in North Hamilton, has been expanded to cover the entire City, the Mayor, Charles Gosling, said on Monday.

He told The Royal Gazette that the Corporation of Hamilton has received positive feedback about the programme.

“The response has been good throughout North Hamilton, not only from the businesses up there, which are being impacted, but from the residents as well,” Mr Gosling said. The corporation has committed $130,000 to the programme so far.

It was started in October 2020 with a commitment of $57,000 from City coffers and was further boosted by $54,000 the following year.

The initiative funds police officers working four hours, five days a week on foot patrols at varying times and working in partnership with the City parish constable.

“They are being there to prevent rather than to react,” Mr Gosling said. “I believe more in the walk-around from the police rather than the drive-by” he said.

He said the programme can be further expanded, but for the corporation, such a move “would be unsustainable.” He suggested that the Government can assist the corporation in the project’s expansion.

“Unfortunately for us, because of the number of expenses that we have elsewhere, we are not able to engage it quite to the extent that we would like,” he said.

"At some point, we have got to really look at how Government can refocus this and give us a little bit more attention.”