185 Million Collected in DRMA Fines by Jamaica Government

Some newly released information about the fines imposed for violations of the Disaster Risk Management Act put in place by the Government to help curb the spread of Covid-19 has shown where the total amount charged to persons has reached 185 million dollars.

That information as given initially by the Jamaica Star is also accompanied by data from the Court Administration Division (CAD), which shows where the fines were issued starting in March of 2020 to 2021, 8028 persons went before the court to answer to charges concerning the violation of the DRMA.

In the same report from the (CAD), 75 persons were held in custody due to their inability to pay the fines. Since then the number of persons that have been subjected to charges under the DRMA has increased massively since parliament decided to allow the police to make arrests under the act without warning.

Between the period of March 2020 to September 2021, an amount of 18000 individuals were slapped with charges for violating the DRMA, however the very special day of September 22, 2021, brought a shocker as over 70 persons were hit with huge fines, some going up to 200,000 for not wearing a mask.

For that particular day, 4.69 million dollars was reeled in by the court for the Disaster Risk Management Breaches and Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks defended such a thing by referring to it as a “strong message” being sent.