John Myers Jr.,Staff Reporter
Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas (right), speaks with Lloyd Distant, a member of the Kiwanis Club of down town Kingston at the club's weekly luncheon meeting at Jamaica Pegasus Hotel yesterday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
POLICE COMMISSIONER Lucius Thomas has called for residents of downtown Kingston to be relocated and old and dilapidated buildings in the commercial district restored to better enable the police to fight and control crime in the area.
The Police Commissioner also implored the business leaders in attendance at the Kiwanis Club of downtown Kingston's luncheon yesterday, to actively support the redevelopment of downtown Kingston.
According to him, "downtown Kingston is an eyesore with neglected roads, inefficient sewage systems and dilapidated buildings, many of which are infested with four-footed vermin and two-footed vagabonds."
Mr. Thomas said the Police Force was fighting an uphill battle against violent crime in the country, especially in the inner-city communities of Kingston, Spanish Town in St. Catherine and St. James, where widespread squalor and deprivation exist.
His proposal to relocate downtown residents comes against what he described as a success in controlling crime in the volatile Railway Lane area of Montego Bay, St. James where residents were relocated and the squatter settlement dismantled.
"I have seen a marked difference in Montego Bay as a result of the relocation of the Railway Lane squatter settlement (and) this leads me to believe that a similar relocation exercise would impact positively on our crime fighting capability in downtown Kingston," the Police Commissioner said at the Kiwanis Club luncheon held at the Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston yesterday.
Commanding officer for St. James, Superintendent Warren Clarke told in July that the division had recorded a 50 per cent decrease in murders committed in June when compared with the previous month. He said there were 10 murders in June compared with 20 in May. Supt Clarke also said there was a decrease in the number of rape and carnal abuse.
Commissioner Thomas further suggested that Relocation 2000, a programme developed by government in 1999 to improve the living conditions of residents in squatter communities in St. James, St. Ann and St. Andrew, be replicated in similar communities across the island. The relocation programme was developed specifically for the residents of squatter communities in Railway Gardens and Barracks Road in St. James; Seville in St. Ann and Mona Commons in St. Andrew
"The desirable action is for Relocation 2000 to be replicated across Jamaica where slums have not only depreciated the environment, but have become safe haven for those who seek to wreak havoc on the rest of the society," Commissioner Thomas stated.
He described the situation in downtown Kingston as a 'sad state of affairs' and advised that a holistic approach was needed to address the problem.
