owing to the criminal situation in Jamaica, the United States is asking individuals to rethink traveling there, and has also prevented federal workers from traveling to certain places owing to increased risk.
In a travel advice, the US State Department assigned the island, the sixth most popular Caribbean cruise destination, with approximately 1.66 million visitors per year, a Level 3 warning out of a four-tier system, with only Level 4 “Do Not Travel” being a more serious warning.
The Level 3: Reconsider Travel travel advice was first issued for Jamaica in early 2022. While the advice remains in effect, this new update expands on the topic of crime types and specific parts of the country where more crimes are recorded in order to provide travelers with the most thorough information to help them make travel decisions.
Home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides are prevalent, according to the US State Department. According to the report, sexual assaults are common, even at all-inclusive resorts.
“Local police officers frequently fail to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents.” When arrests are made, cases are rarely prosecuted to a conclusion. “Families of US citizens killed in accidents or homicides frequently have to wait a year or more for Jamaican authorities to issue final death certificates,” Washington added.
According to the report, emergency services and hospital care vary across the island, and response times and quality of care may differ from US standards.
“The homicide rate reported by the Government of Jamaica has for several years been among the highest in the Western Hemisphere,” the advisory stated, adding that US government personnel are not permitted to travel to the various areas, use public buses, or drive outside of prescribed areas of Kingston at night.
So far this year, Jamaica has registered 409 murders, compared to 489 in the same period last year. So far this year, there have been 336 shootings, compared to 389 last year.