Howard Campbell, Gleaner WriterIn 2004 when the details of Jamaica's shocking homicide statistics were released, the St. Andrew South police division had the dubious distinction for most murders with 242.
But there has been an encouraging turnaround in that division recently, thanks to a concerted effort by the police, politicians and civic groups.
According to Superintendent Newton Amos, commanding officer for St. Andrew South, only four persons have been murdered there in the past two months.
The last two homicides took place Wednesday when Dane McMurray and Maurice Walters, both 19, were murdered at Glen Road off Maxfield Avenue.
Supt. Amos released these statistics during the St. Andrew South Crime Prevention and Community Safety Forum, on Wednesday, at the Church of the Open Bible in St. Andrew.
Approximately 243 persons have been murdered to date in 2005 in St. Andrew South. Although this maintains the division's record as one of the most violent in Jamaica, the rate has slowed in recent months.
Mr. Amos says constant
dialogue between the police, Members of Parliament and civic groups has helped tone down hostilities throughout the
troubled pockets in recent weeks.
"We have embarked on a crime prevention programme that accentuates creating social and personal levels in these communities," said Mr. Amos. "We are involved in community
programmes, public meetings, dispute resolution and monthly church services."
Mr. Amos says an increase in police patrols has also helped in the reduction of criminal activities and has led to the arrest of
several wanted men.
The St. Andrew South police division is one of the largest and most violent in Jamaica. It encompasses four constituencies: East Central St. Andrew, Western St. Andrew, South West St. Andrew and West Central St. Andrew.
Communities such as Whitfield Town, Greenwich Town, Payne Lands and Olympic Gardens are located in St. Andrew South. In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner early this year, Mr. Amos said it was tough policing these communities, some of which fought bitter political battles during the 1970s and 1980s.
Andrew Holness is a two-term MP for West Central St. Andrew where some of St. Andrew South's toughest enclaves including Seaward Drive, Olympic Gardens and Balcombe Drive, are located. He too has noticed a decline in bloodshed and acknowledged the work of the police, politicians and community groups.
"Clearly, the police have been very effective in some areas, the Waterhouse area and Balcombe Drive in particular," he told The Sunday Gleaner. "They have not been successful in other areas like White Wing and Seivwright Drive where community work has brought warring factions together."
Like most MPs of troubled constituencies, Mr. Holness says politics is not the driving force behind violence in the St. Andrew South South division. He believes it is a matter of youth feeling alienated.
"If you come here and go into the back roads, you will understand that these guys have their own culture and their own
system of economic survival, so they don't have an affinity with the rest of Jamaica," said Mr. Holness. "So, the crime-fighting strategy has to be broader than the police ... It has to look at young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who feel alienated."
Mr. Holness said unemployment was high among the young in his constituency. many of them, he noted, were semi-literate, and drift into crime because they feel they have no chance in a society that discriminates against inner-city youth.
One of those youths hung out on the Olympic Gardens strip on Friday. He bemoaned the lack of opportunities for him and his peers.
"A jus' work the youth dem wan't, 'cause dem idle. If yuh lef' the youth dem pon dem own, bad tings will happen," he said.
