Tarik Sheppard, a Deputy Commissioner in the New York Police Department, has refuted the US State Department’s most recent travel warning, stating that visiting Jamaica is quite safe for visitors from the US.
Perception is crucial, according to Deputy Commissioner Sheppard of the NYPD Public Information Department, and the travel advice conveys the idea that it is risky for visitors to travel to Jamaica.
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“Come to Jamaica for your visit. It is very safe here,” he stated.
Deputy Commissioner Sheppard, accompanied by Jamaica’s Police Commissioner Major Anthony Anderson, spoke to the press during a Zoom meeting. Sheppard is leading a delegation from the New York Police Department to Jamaica for discussions with the Police High Command.
The level three travel alert, according to Deputy Commissioner Sheppard, may discourage tourists from visiting the island.
Sheppard added that there is no need to be afraid of traveling to Jamaica for a vacation, and that message is directed towards Americans as well as other tourists, including Jamaicans living in New York.
“Everything that I have seen and from my discussions with the Jamaican Police High Command, it is very safe to visit Jamaica,” he stated.
The country’s poor health care system, high rate of violent crime, and frequency of sexual assaults of tourists are all depicted in the level three travel alert, which advises US travelers to rethink visiting Jamaica. Additionally, it indicated which areas of the island were off-limits to tourists.
Sheppard claims that the advice is equivalent to telling people not to go to Times Square because there was a killing in East New York.
Given the downward trend in crime in Jamaica, Police Commissioner Anderson stated that the travel alert was unexpected.
“It came out of left field,” he remarked.
Since it was released, the government, tourism, and authorities of Jamaica have been resisting the travel recommendation.
