THE REPORT in Friday's Gleaner of a significant drop in the number of homicides in the Mountain View Avenue area is welcome news; particularly so, given the recent history of violent eruptions in that community.Senior police officers speaking at the official opening of a new police station in the area, attributed the decline, from 27 in 2001 to four since January of this year, to a better working relationship between residents and the security forces. In addition to the efforts by the police to win the support of citizens, there have been the interventions by civic organisations like the Peace Management Initiative, chaired by Bishop Herro Blair. Clearly, the combined efforts are bearing good fruit.
But this kind of success, remains tenuous at best, as hinted at by Milton Tomlinson, president of the United Mountain View Development Council. He expressed the hope that the police personnel who will be assigned to work at the station will work with the citizens and not abuse them. It is a hope that all well-thinking Jamaicans share not just for that community but right across Jamaica. The fears expressed by Mr. Tomlinson, unfortunately, are well-founded in past experiences.
For people who do not live there, concerns about frequent violent clashes between gangs along Mountain View Avenue centre on its being one of the major corridors to and from the Norman Manley International Airport.
We would hope, however, that peace and security will prevail in the area, not only so that there may be safe passage for those who have to travel along that thoroughfare. Rather that the decent, law-abiding citizens who live there can enjoy the comfort of their homes, as they would in other parts of the country.
The siting of a police station in the area should help to bring about a greater sense of assurance of quick response when conflicts arise and also provide a quicker avenue for a third party to help to resolve disputes rather than their resorting to the usual direct, violent means of settling grievances.
In this area, as with all others across the island, the security forces' ability to contain crime will reside in a trust and confidence on the part of the citizens in the police that they will be protected from criminals and that information shared will be treated confidentially.
We dare to hope that the symbolic official opening of a police station will indeed mark a new beginning for the people of Mountain View Avenue and surrounding communities. But beyond hope there must be tough, but respectful, policing that will cauterise the wounds inflicted by criminals and give decent citizens some breathing space.
There must be a limit, however, to the number of police stations that can be deployed throughout the Corporate Area and indeed the island. Which means that there must be even greater emphasis on the mobility of the police by the quick refurbishing and/or addition of the vehicles that are still needed.
