PERF Executive Director, Chuck Wexler (left), National Security Minister Peter Phillips (second left), US Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb (second right), and Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce, Becky Stockhausen, are all smiles after signing a multimillion dollar agreement to build a model police station in Grants Pen, St. Andrew. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer THE UNITED States and the Jamaican Government yesterday signed a multimillion dollar agreement to build a model police station in Grants Pen, St. Andrew.
USAID, who will fund the project, will spend $300 million over a four-year period on a programme to encourage community policing.
Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce, Becky Stock-hausen, said the authorities had not decided where in the community the station would be built, as they were looking at nine locations.
The project has become a reality more than a year after the Jamaican Government accepted 83 recommendations submitted by the Washington D.C. based Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) team to address the country's crime problem.
Among the recommendations was for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to build a model police station in one of the troubled communities where crime was prevalent.
The project's funding was sourced by members of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), who funded the PERF team to conduct their research into Jamaica's crime problem. Reports are that the project will be funded to the tune of US$3.5 million by USAID.
US Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb, described the project as "very exciting". While inviting members of the private sector to come on board, she said the US Government hoped to build model police stations in other troubled communities.
"Crime is a great challenge to Jamaica but, under the crime initiative, the trend is going down," said the US Ambassador.
Police Commissioner Francis Forbes explained that since the new crime initiatives came into effect last November, the police had discovered many people who were being held prisoner in their own communities and did not know who to turn to.
"They were happy when they see us," said Mr. Forbes.
National Security Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, had high praise for the US Government and said it had been a collaborative effort. He emphasised that the improved relationship between the police and the citizenry should increase the respect and appreciation for each other.
Member of Parliament for North East St. Andrew, Delroy Chuck, called on the authorities to seek to correct the social ills of the community so it could, once again, attract new businesses. He made reference to the poor housing and infrastructure in the area.
...Forbes looks to policing without firearms
RESIDENTS OF Grants Pen, St. Andrew, will have major input into the construction of the model police station to be built in their community later this year.
"We are going to design the services to be delivered with the advice of the community. We hope that if the community advises us to provide for them in a particular way, then they will see it fit to join us in the effort to secure them," Police Commissioner Francis Forbes told The Gleaner yesterday.
Responding to questions about the type of police station he would want to see in Grants Pen, the Commissioner stressed that hopefully they would be able to find a proper location facilitating easy access for the communities surrounding the police station.
"That police station will be so designed that it will facilitate things like counselling. We hope to facilitate exercises like community services, such as the processing of passport applications and assisting persons who cannot read and write well," said Mr. Forbes.
He pointed out that the police personnel who will be assigned to the model station will be hand-picked and will receive special training so they will be able to understand community policing.
The community-based police officers will be involved in basic things such as assisting residents, especially the elderly, to understand and read their utility bills.
Commissioner Forbes also proposed that the model police station would have a state-of-the-art home work centre. He said it is going be a home work centre with a difference, where the bigger children will be encouraged to help the smaller ones.
"Our final vision is for a community where we can police without firearms. I am very, very, committed to that. I think it is possible and if it is necessary, if we can convert Grants Pen into a community where we need no firearms, then we can convert all of Jamaica to a place where a firearm is just for the exception," said Mr. Forbes.
When asked why Grants Pen was chosen, the Commissioner said the community was selected for a number of reasons.
"It has been a hotbed for quite a while, there is tremendous poverty and political polarisation that exists in Grants Pen and we thought that if we selected Grants Pen it would do quite a number of things.
"For example, it will get the political sides to join together so we will get politics out of the way as a crime-encouraging factor," he said.
