Monique Hepburn, Deputy Star Editor

Superintendent Norman Heywood, coordinator of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's Safe Schools Programme, speaking at The Star's 'Hunt For Child Killers Forum,' held at the Gleaner Office, North Street, Kingston yesterday. - Winston Sill / Freelance Photographer

Extortion within schools is the latest trend that has caught the attention of the police, who are reporting that the crime is being replicated in institutions located within communities where it is prevalent.

Superintendent Norman Heywood, coordinator of the Jamaica Constabulary Force's (JCF) Safe Schools Programme, made the announcement yesterday during a Star 'Hunt For Child Killers Forum' at the Gleaner Company's North Street office.

"We are now seeing extortion in some schools wherein students are being threatened and there are threats to teachers as well," Supt. Heywood said.

The forum, which drew together the parents of murdered children, guidance counsellors and the police, explored a wide range of issues, including the status of police investigations of the murders, intervention strategies for troubled students and schools, as well as avenues to assistance for grief-stricken families.

Supt. Heywood commented that extortion usually takes the form of some students "using fear, weapons, or their sheer numbers as a large group" to scare some students into giving them money for protection to attend school.

Getting common

"We find that extortion in the school setting is getting common in schools that are in communities or areas where extortion is widely practised," the superintendent said.

He said there are approximately 15 schools across the country where extortion had been identified.

Reporting during the last school year (September 2005 to June 2006) indicated that the Safe Schools Programme had intervened in 1,020 incidents in which five guns and 139 other offensive weapons were seized.

Supt. Heywood said 13 cases of sexual assault were reported, 148 packets of ganja seized, and 44 arrests were made.