Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Commissioner Lucius Thomas greets members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force at the Commissioner's Open Day celebration at the Policing and Services Facility at Grants Pen Road, St. Andrew, recently. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
THE ST. ANDREW community of Grants Pen is soon to have its own non-governmental organisation Community Policing Management Committee dedicated solely to police-community relations.
This follows the recent opening of a model community police station in Grants Pen.
The Community Policing Management Committee is part of the USAID-funded Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) community policing project, established in Grants Pen in 2001. New to Jamaica, such independent advisory groups have been integral to community policing strategies in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
Reverend Ian Muirhaead, Chairman of the Greater Grants Pen Ministers Fraternal, told Volunteer Today that the committee will be formally registered as a charity by the end of this month having been operating informally since last year. Amongst those participating are the police themselves, the Ministers Fraternal, the Social Development Commission, the Stella Maris Foundation and local residents associations.
CONSENSUS BUILDING APPROACH
According to Superintendent Asan Thompson, who was recently transferred from the St. Andrew North police division, the consensus building community policing approach explains a fall of 11 murders in the same period last year.
"The committee is critical to the police understanding what is happening in the community through the advisory group. Likewise, people are used to blaming the police for just about everything, so with the committee it can help us to cool down things and get our position across," said Supt. Thompson.
