- Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
A section of Compound in Olympic Gardens.
Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
CONTROVERSY IS nothing new to the residents of "Compound", a small community in the volatile Olympic Gardens area of West Central St. Andrew which has been torn apart by political tribalism for decades.
Bordered by Bay Farm Road on the south, the semi-circular Rhoden Crescent to the north and east and Olympic Way to the west, 'Compound' is a low-income depressed community, in clear need of infrastructural development.
Twenty years ago the community comprised mostly board houses, hidden by rusty zinc fences while raw sewage streamed down narrow dirt lanes.
Today, some of that has changed, with the board houses and zinc fences replaced by modest concrete structures.
"People are using the last dollar that they save to improve their houses," said Jacqueline Montique, 39, who has lived in the community all her life.
But last Tuesday's fracas between a police patrol and some residents of the community has seemingly stymied another attempt at improving a longstanding problem, that of developing better citizen-security forces relationships.
It's reported that during an attempt to apprehend a community area don who was allegedly armed with an illegal gun, a policeman was set up by an angry mob who beat the constable, confiscated the weapon which the lawman had seized and then released the man.
ILLEGAL GUN
While admitting that stones were thrown at the policeman, a group of residents who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, denied that the man who was apprehended had any illegal gun at the time. They also denied that the policeman was attacked directly.
According to the residents, they reacted because they feared that the policeman was about to shoot one of their community leaders popularly known as "Barber Keith", in cold blood and without cause.
The residents insist that he is no criminal but a good community man who some people want to kill.
Andrew Holness, the Member of Parliament for West Central St. Andrew, the constituency in which Compound lies, said he had since spoken with the man, through a third party.
"I advised him to turn himself in, but apparently he is scared," said Mr. Holness.
This fear of the police was underscored several persons who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner.
"We would prefer to have a different set of police to deal with, rather than the batch we are dealing with now," said Miss Montique.
TAKING SIDES
Supported by several other women, Miss Montique accused the police of taking sides with factions from nearby communities.
They said the crime problems in the area began to intensify about four years ago after a group of men were chased out of the community because of how they were behaving.
These men, they said, settled in nearby communities and since then have reportedly been launching sporadic attacks on "Compound".
On Friday, the security forces shut down the community, conducting house-to-house searches for "Barber Keith", but without success.
"We will be going after him wherever he is," said Superintendent Newton Amos, the Commanding Officer for South St. Andrew.
