Avia Collinder, Gleaner Writer

Commuters jostle to enter a bus at the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre. The hub has been plagued by students' indiscipline. - Anthony Minott

The recent disappearance and alleged murder of an 11-year-old student who was last seen alive in the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre has prompted The Gleaner to take another look at student behaviour and security issues at the centre.

STUDENT TROUBLEmakers at the Half-Way Tree Transport Centre are creating a security challenge for police who are struggling to keep them in line during peak hours.

"The transport centre is quite safe except for fracas between students who bring a tribalistic attitude to one another," Corporal Henry Parkins of the Half-Way Tree Police Station told the The Gleaner. "Fragments of gangs are always at war. It's crazy. They would kill each other if we were not here," he added.

"They are always going at each other from different schools. We search them and find half-machetes and knives of all different lengths, shapes and sizes. We have to make sure they operate like students," Parkins said.

Security contract

Along with the police, the transport hub is secured by the firm Protection and Security Limited, which was engaged by the centre operator, Port Authority of Jamaica, in June at a contract valued at $52.7 million. The firm provides 24-hour armed and unarmed security.

The security reinforcement followed clashes earlier this year between students from a number of schools, including stabbing incidents.

A student of Wolmer's Boys' School related that he had witnessed fights, "especially downstairs. Sometimes, they catch them with weapons too".

According to the police, the law-enforcement personnel are being assertive in tackling student indiscipline.

"We are being proactive instead of reactive. Those who are untidy with their shorts out, we make sure they tidy themselves, queue in the right areas, take their buses and leave," he said.

However, Parkins is laying much of the blame at the feet of parents.

"Conscious parents should advise their children to avoid gangs and avoid crowds too, he suggested. "When students walk in a large group, they get rowdy, misbehave and shout graphic things to females who are passing too.

"We are trying to ensure that the troublemakers are reined in," says Parkins.

To prevent loitering, managers at the facility have been enforcing a one-hour ticketing policy since March 2008. The tickets are valid for one-hour after purchase. However, adult users still complain of students loitering.

"They are disgusting, always hanging around. As soon as they come in, they should leave. They congregate to chat with their friends and carry on. It is not a meeting ground," a 42-year-old woman complained to The Gleaner.

Only place to hang out

But students counter that the transport centre is the only place they can hang out free of parental intervention.

"We use the centre to shelter from the rain and just to hang out. We are not allowed in business places.

"We hang out for half an hour or one hour then go to our bus stop," says a group of eighth-graders from Merl Grove High School.

It was reported in June that bathrooms had been vandalised by students who wrote expletives on walls. Earlier in the year, meetings were held with student-body representatives from several high schools in the Corporate Area in a bid to curtail loitering and indiscipline.

According to Parkins, student behaviour in the centre is being controlled.

"When they engage in outrageous behaviour, we take them to the station and call their parents.

"We have to be there from in the mornings when they arrive to after 7 in the evenings when they loiter. We ensure they take their buses and leave," he said.