http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070617/focus/focus3.html
Published: Sunday | June 17, 2007

More education and less crime - that's the universal route to progress and what all Jamaicans want for their country. One place at least is moving in the right direction, my home parish of Manchester.

Manchester probably has the highest school to population ratio in the country. Its high schools of note include Manchester, DeCarteret, Bishop Gibson and Belair. While Northern Caribbean University, Church Teachers' College and Knox Community College offer tertiary opportunities. It's very heartening to stand in front of the market at 3 o'clock on a school afternoon and see hordes of students on their way from class. This parish is investing in its human capital.

The higher than average educational level no doubt contributes to Manchester's relatively low crime levels. Serious crimes declined by 13 per cent from 2005 to 2006. And there has been a further 21 per cent fall so far this year.

Yet, much of the credit must go to the total proactive approach of the Manchester police, headed by deputy superintendents Stephen Green and Barrington Daley, and Detective Inspector Louie Brown. For instance, fortnightly crime meetings are held with investigators who have to give up-to-date status reports on all cases.

There is also a high level of co-operation between police and citizens, leading to exceptional clear up levels. Seven of the eight reported murders this year have been solved, and the eighth likely soon will be. This compares with a national murder clear up rate of 26 per cent. In addition nine of 12 shootings and nine of 16 rape cases have been cleared up, again in contrast to national rates of under 50 per cent.

Manchester is a striking example of how crime can be controlled when an entire community works together towards the same goal. This is in no small part due to the very active Mandeville Police Civic Committee, which was established over 30 years ago to specifically foster a better relationship between the citizens and police. The 40-50 strong committee is made up mostly of members of the neighbourhood watches, citizens' associations, and the business community from in and around Mandeville.

Interchanges

It has monthly meetings at the Mandeville Police Station and enjoys the support of rank and file officers, a partnership that allows frank interchanges and better solutions. It also gets support from the Mandeville Police Community Relations Unit that visits neighbourhood and citizens' association meetings. The committee has also contributed to police welfare initiatives, such as refurbishing of the barracks and station, and sponsorship of leadership training courses. Outstanding officers are recognised at an annual awards dinner. It is a model that should be duplicated all over the island.

Last December Mandeville was rocked by the gruesome kidnap and murder of Dicky and Julia Lyn. Now, there is a predictable pattern of sorts in Jamaica. A high-profile murder gets massive front-page media coverage. A big hue and cry is raised by the powers that be. Sometimes there are attention-grabbing symbolic gestures, such as the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica crime march after the murder of Maurice Azan a few years back. But the hullabaloo soon dies down, no fundamental changes are made, and soon it's business - or rather crime - as usual.

After the Lyns' tragedy, however, Custos Gilbert Allen held a meeting and asked, "What can we do right away to deal with crime?" NOT "What can we talk about doing?" The obvious answer was to develop and implement an initiative to promote systemic changes aimed at managing criminality and its effects in Manchester. This by definition involved getting the cooperation of all citizens, providing privately funded resources for the regional JCF, and holding them accountable.

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce (MCC) took up the challenge. It consulted with groups including, but not limited to, small and medium enterprises, regional corporations, Returned Citizens' Association, Lay Magistrates Association, Manchester Homecoming Foundation, NCU, Parish Council, Police Civic Committee and Service Clubs. Then it went to the Manchester JCF and asked "What do you need to cut crime significantly?"

The police and judiciary identified four critical areas: an adequate motorised patrol, expansion of the district intelligence unit, installation of closed-circuit cameras, and improved facilities at the investigative unit. The necessary improvements were estimated to cost approximately $9.7 million and required a commitment from the Ministryof National Security to provide the necessary manpower.

Response times

The Closed to Crime Initiative (CTCI), as the plan was dubbed, also included a comprehensive memorandum of understanding in which the Manchester JCF committed itself to reducing the level of all crimes by 25 per cent and improving response times to 20 minutes or less.

The project proposal was distributed to approximately 300 businesses and organisations. A pledge of approximately $500,000 has been received from CCTV providers. Other pledges of approximately $1.7 million have been received, typically from larger businesses. But MCC president Winston Lawson wants to make it a true citizens' initiative. The more people who contribute, no matter how small an amount, the greater the community buy in. After all, crime affects everyone - big and small, rich and poor. If each of the 190,000 residents served by the regional command centre pledged $50, the initiative would be over-funded.

A public education campaign has been launched to inform citizens about what is half jokingly being called 'Operation Rat Trap'. Minister of National Security Peter Phillips fully supports the plan and will be assigning two SUVs in an expedited fashion. The MCC has also met with U.K. consultants and the U.S.-based CCTV suppliers to ensure that the technical elements of the project will tie in seamlessly with the planned national system.

Let's hope Operation Rat Trap becomes as fully operational as conceived. Successful implementation and results would certainly show other parishes what can be done when citizens unite.

A comedy of errors

Send in the clowns. CSI Jamaica Jokers. The foreign press is having a field day with the Bob Woolmer death investigation. And who can blame them? It was an embarrassing disgrace.

Some say a wise government would move swiftly to restore public confidence in both our pathology department and police force. Which should mean the immediate replacement of those at the heart of the Woolmer case, government pathologist Dr. Ere Seshaiah and lead investigator Detective Mark Shields. Whatever the specific rights or wrongs, the argument goes, the credibility of these two has been irredeemably compromised with a large segment of the population, not to mention the outside world.

Yet, the fate of Dr. Seshaiah and Mr. Shields should not be allowed to obscure the big picture. It is the duty of our Government to provide proper forensic capabilities not only for high-profile foreigners but for ordinary Jamaican citizens. All the Woolmer fiasco has done is let the world see what everyone in Jamaica has known for a long time, that our forensics department is an under-funded shambles. We have had years and years of no ballistics, no X-rays, no morgue, no body bags, a lack of personnel, no refrigeration, and such things as doctors doing post-mortems at funeral parlours and charging for it.

Dr. Peter Phillips now claims that 'the circumstances of the case brought into focus the need for the most up-to-date forensic capabilities possible'. Funny how this was not clear to him and his governmental colleagues before the May Budget debate, by which time the Woolmer cock-up was obvious. But, incredibly, the allocations for the forensics department was actually reduced in this year's budget. And the Government wants people to believe it's serious about cutting crime?