"We have to be policing the public spaces like cash centres where people are moving in droves and numbers as the criminals tend to frequent these areas," Senior Superintendent of Police Ray Palmer, second in command at the division, told The Gleaner.

Earlier this month, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington told journalists at the Police High Command's quarterly press conference that there was a spike in property crime. Robberies were up to 231, an increase of 19 per cent. Ellington also noted that break-ins had risen by 847, or 87 per cent, with similar growth rates in both urban and rural areas.

"It's one of the most challenging formations in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) because of the duties that we do, we take on tough assignments," Palmer said of the challenges faced by the Mobile Reserve.

"When there is a flare-up of violence in the volatile communities, whether Mountain View, Montego Bay or Spanish Town, the Mobile Reserve has to go inside."

Speaking at the JCF Mobile Reserve service at the Fellowship Apostolic Church on Sunday, Palmer also bemoaned the lack of respect and recognition the police squad received from the public.

"Most people look at the police almost like they are aliens, but we are ordinary people, citizens who have flesh and blood," he said solemnly.