St Elizabeth police host inaugural Black River gospel concert after Hurricane Melissa

The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s St Elizabeth Division has staged its first community gospel concert in Black River, anchored in praise and worship and pitched as a parish-wide moment of healing after Hurricane Melissa struck on 28 October 2025.

Bishop Steve Heburn of the New Testament Church of God Spalding circuit led proceedings as moderator, greeting worshippers and saluting senior officers present, including Acting Deputy Commissioner Clifford Blake and the division’s commanding officer, Superintendent Ceridge Mento. The Jamaica Constabulary Force choir and band featured on the programme, alongside visiting gospel ministers and guest artist Minister Kevin Dwell, who told the crowd he had postponed overseas ministry to appear.

In his formal welcome, Superintendent Mento said the gathering carried the theme “resilience, rebuild, and rejoice.” He recalled how Black River and nearby communities suffered heavy blows from the storm, with thousands displaced, livelihoods interrupted, and families grieving deep losses, while crediting police and other essential workers, volunteers, community groups, faith leaders, and ordinary residents for pressing on through response and recovery.

Mento also outlined year-end policing indicators for the division, reporting declines compared with the prior period in rape (23 per cent), shootings (30 per cent), robbery (50 per cent), and murder (45 per cent), with 18 homicides logged as the lowest annual murder tally in more than two decades. He cautioned that seven murders recorded since the start of the current year showed there was no room for complacency and that enforcement and community safety work would need to intensify.

South West St Elizabeth Member of Parliament and Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green addressed the audience, commending the division’s community engagement and voicing confidence in rebuilding Black River. Mayor Councillor Richard Solomon was among other officials acknowledged from the platform.

Organisers promoted on-site QR-code trivia and spot prizes, and the superintendent presented a $10,000 Victoria Mutual gift voucher to a young child, Alan Grand, whose mother, Kadian, vendors in the town, while another vendor, Sherekica Walker, received a gift basket. Black River Hospital nurse Dorsia Lyle, widely introduced as the “singing nurse,” performed for attendees.

Pastor Maurice Pewy offered opening prayer, petitioning calm weather over Black River for the night and lifting up the superintendent and his team as the programme continued into the early hours.