Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
GLOWING TRIBUTES were heaped last Thursday on the successful implementation of community policing and prosperity programmes in the St. Andrew communities of Grants Pen and Standpipe.
The programmes are sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). A stakeholder conference was held on Thursday at Hilton Kingston Hotel in New Kingston, to report on the programmes' effectiveness. The theme was: 'Lessons Learned in the Fight against Crime and Violence'.
COMMUNITY TRANSFORMED
Superintendent Assan Thompson, commanding officer for the St. Andrew North Police Division, which includes Grants Pen, said the community policing has significantly transformed the community.
He referred to 1998 when murders in the community were so common that Christiane Amanpour, Cable New Network (CNN's) international correspondent, featured Grants Pen and labelled it one of the "killing fields of Jamaica".
"Today, if Christiane should return to look at Grants Pen, she could not write a similar story," Supt. Thompson stated.
According to the superintendent, at that time murders, donmanship, and extortion were the order of the day in Grants Pen, where criminal activities occasionally overwhelmed the police force.
"At that time a single case of threat would cause us (police) to send no less than four police officers, and they would have to be dressed in battle fatigue - steel helmets and carrying M-16s," Supt. Thompson stated.
The senior police, however, said that scenario was a thing of the past.
"Today we have removed the entire concept of dovetailing, and we have moved police officers from wearing battle fatigues to wearing short pants," he said. On the entrepreneurial front, the superintendent added that even economic activities in Grants Pen have begun to mushroom again.
"Delivery trucks which stayed away from the community for years have returned without the help of the police," he said.
For his part, Anthony Simpson, chairman of the Standpipe Community Management Committee, said the inner-city Peace and Prosperity Project (PPP) has transformed his community. He noted that persons who were often involved in disputes had been trained to settle differences amicably.
"There has been change, brought about by the PPP," he stated.
EXAMINE STRATEGIES
Meanwhile, Thursday's stakeholder conference was meant to also examine strategies to replicate 'best practices' and lessons learnt, to improve citizens' security and build new partnerships.
To this end, a plenary session was held where working groups were asked to propose a range of strategies.
In his remarks, John Wright, deputy director of the USAID's Office of Economic Growth, said his organisation was pleased to be a part of the Peace and Prosperity Project.
"As the evaluation team continues to measure the successes of the programmes, we believe that other communities with similar problems will wish to emulate the 'best practices' and the intervention methods utilised in this pilot project," he remarked.
