By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterRESIDENTS OF the Mountain View Avenue area of East Kingston yesterday welcomed the police into their community at the official opening of a new police station at the intersection of Hilldene and Mountain View avenues.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Jevene Bent, in her brief message to mark the occasion, said there was a significant decrease in murders within the hot spots of the Mountain View communities. She said the murders had dropped from 27 in 2001 to four, since January of this year.
She attributes the success to the relationship established between the police and the citizens.
Milton Tomlinson, president of the United Mountain View Development Council, is hoping that the police personnel who will be attached to the new station will work with the citizens and not abuse them.
Dr. Peter Phillips, minister of national security, who cut the ribbon to officially declare the station open, expressed concern that with the flood of guns in the Mountain View communities, there is the possibility that the existing peace could be shattered.
And Bishop Herro Blair, chairman of the Peace Management Initiative which has spearheaded the peace initiative in the area, told the residents that part of their responsibility was to the protect the officers and the station, which was completed at a cost of over $10 million.
The station will serve a population of over 5,000 people from the surrounding communities of Mountain View Avenue, a major thoroughfare through the city. The area includes Jarrett Lane, Jacques Road, Oliver Road, Burger Gully, Back Bush, parts of Windward Road and all roads leading off Mountain View Avenue.
