Glenroy Sinclair and Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writers
The crowd is in high spirit at the Power of Faith Ministries 'Heal the Family, Heal the Nation' church service at the Spanish Town Prison Oval yesterday. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
RESIDENTS AND business operators in war-torn Spanish Town, St. Catherine, can expect to see an increased police presence to help stem renewed fighting in the Old Capital.
Acting Commissioner of Police Charles Scarlet made the pledge yesterday during a lengthy meeting with members of the business community.
"Their concerns had to do with the number of homicides over the past two weeks and what they deem was the inadequate police responses to the incidents," the Acting Police Commissioner told The Gleaner.
He told the business operators that the police have been involved in an ongoing operation in the area and that four persons were picked up yesterday. The police are investigating three of those individuals.
ACP Scarlet said the police will not only be visible in the streets, but more effective.
The meeting was called by Dennis Robotham, president of the St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce, who told The Gleaner on Tuesday that violence has caused a number of businesses to close their shutters and move out. He said others were losing millions of dollars because people were too afraid to come out and shop.
Stephen Delapenha, who was among the representatives from the business community, said he hoped the meeting would not turn out to be "just another talk shop".
PRISON OVAL PILGRIMAGE
The meeting was held eight hours after hundreds of persons made a pilgrimage to the Spanish Town Prison Oval, praying for divine intervention to heal the Old Capital of its battle scars.
"We believe that the old slave masters must have set some level of curse on Spanish Town as in the past it was a central point for the slave trade," said Bishop Rowan Edwards, who further stressed that the objective of the prayer vigil was to restore peace in Spanish Town.
Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, Member of Parliament for the troubled Central St. Catherine constituency, said the Church needed to do more than just give
spiritual guidance to the people who are suffering.
"The time has come for the Church to go into the inner-city communities and hold on to the hands of the dispossessed who are hungry and are experiencing feelings of hopelessness," said Miss Grange.
In the meantime, Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security, has described the 17 homicides and 24 persons shot and injured over the past two weeks in Spanish Town as a national disgrace.
"There is need to discuss with the Police High Command their effectiveness and strategy for controlling crime in the Old Capital," said Mr. Smith, who has requested a meeting with the top brass of the police force.
