-File photoThe police and residents launching the nation's 301st Neighbourhood Watch at Greenman's Hall in Trelawny, November 23, 1992.
Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
NEIGHBOURHOOD watch programmes across the island may be getting a bad rap, according to programme co-ordinator in the police community relations division, Sgt. Barrington Brown.
This as the islandwide community crime prevention groups are accused of complacency or ineffectiveness in their operations which may have led to heightened crime in some areas.
"One of the things that you will notice if you evaluate it properly is that most crimes don't happen in the areas which have a neighbourhood watch. But because it may be part of a larger community then people assume that the neighbourhood watch programme extends for the entire community and could have prevented the crime. But often it is the effort of persons within a very small area, maybe just one street," Sgt. Brown explained.
This year the programme celebrates its 15th anniversary and boasts a complement of 579 units islandwide but of this number 166 are now inactive.
But persons have questioned the effectiveness of the programme especially where they exist in volatile or trouble zones. One was launched in Rose Town in the west Kingston area but is now inactive, as are the three others which were launched in Kingston central in areas like Fletchers Land, Kingston Gardens and Allman Town. Sgt. Brown explains that these have distinct disadvantages.
Hard times
"We normally have a hard time in Kingston and these are really trouble zones so there is the fear with violent flare-ups people are afraid to come out to meetings."
However, while Sgt. Brown admits that the programme has lost the vibrancy of the early years, he says that in some cases the communities are at fault.
"It's effective once people want it to be effective. Where it falls dormant then I blame the people because it's a 'people programme', the police are only there to act as a guide. We have told them simple things like if you see strangers around that you are suspicious of then call us or give us some description so that we can identify them, sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. There are some areas too where the programme starts up but after the crime goes down then the members become complacent."
Chairman of the St. Catherine North Neighbourhood watch programme, Orett Thomas, agrees, noting that in some areas residents will only respond in a crisis, "I think we could take some blame, but a part of it has to do with the police because many of them are not attuned to the nature of a neighbourhood watch programme. For some officers it's not a commitment, it's a job. Sometimes the police are not even present at the meetings. It's really a partnership so if you are not holding up your end of the bargain, how can it succeed?"
Another area he said which often hampered the process was the perception of mistrust of the police.
Trust
"People don't necessarily readily trust the policemen. They have the feeling that confidentiality is not high on their list so they tend to shy away. Then too citizens start working with a particular police officer, later he is transferred and replaced but it takes a while for them to open up to the new person and during that time there is a lull in the information they will give to the police."
But Sgt. Brown dismisses the idea that persons have lost interest because of a general mistrust of the police.
"Trust is not a problem for neighbourhood watch programmes because of the way they are set up. There is a crime panel of trustworthy persons for each group, persons whom the community itself has chosen. The police officer only acts as a liason person to pass on information, so you find that complaints about trust are not with the neighbourhood watch programmes."
But while they agree with the idea of a partnership of trust, other residents say that the communities must play the larger role to reduce or monitor crime.
"Especially in these communities where the crime rate is high and there are neighbourhood watch programmes, it just means that the people are not vigilant at all, because where people are not alert there's a tendency for crime to increase," says one resident, Cecil Donaldson, who is also chairman of the St. James Combined Citizens Association and Neighbourhood Watch programme. He points to a programme which has been so successful that residents have launched off into "battles" with both the Government and other business groups to discourage illegal dumping, shady business establishments in residential areas and hooligan squatter communities around the areas of Paradise Acres, Mango Walk and Dunbar.
The group, like others in Manchester and St. Elizabeth, has even extended its range to social services and senior citizens or youth programmes to keep members active.
The police, however, now say that their main trouble, and possible major flaw, has been a situation of limited police personnel to monitor the groups.
"The programme has outgrown the office as we can no longer effectively manage 579 groups. Because of the workload we have to now ask other policemen to assist where they can. The police officers in the unit have to monitor the school programme, police youth clubs, counselling programmes and sometimes general police duties as well," Sgt. Brown explained.
