Byron McDaniel, Gleaner Writer

LAWSON

Walderston, Manchester:

In December 2006, the Manchester business community lost two of its stalwarts to violence.

The decomposed bodies of Richard Lyn, 75, and his 71-year-old wife, Julia, were found at the Martins Hill Dump in the parish.

As the year progressed, serious crimes, including murder, increased concerns about safety in the parish.

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce promised to intensify its fight against crime and just over two weeks ago, it delivered again with the launch of the second phase of its 'Closed to Crime Initiative'.

Chamber President Winston Lawson says the project represents another step in the 1,000-mile journey to restore the parish to its former glory.

"Clearly, the underlying problem is a socio-economic one which has to be dealt with starting now, but unlikely to have meaningful efforts immediately," the chamber notes in a 2007 memorandum of understanding with the Manchester police.

Under Phase Two of the Closed to Crime Initiative, the Manchester Chamber of Commerce is pro-viding increased support to the police.

The chamber has established a divisional intelligence and investigation unit at the Mandeville Police Station and closed-circuit TV cameras are to be installed at the station, shortly.

As part of Phase One of the project, 50 people have already been trained in entreprenuership and another 450 are to be trained.

Battle against crime

The training is being done in conjunction with the Morris Entrepreneurial Centre of the Northern Caribbean University and the entrepreneurial centre of HEART Trust/NTA.

It is an initiative National Security Minister Derrick Smith has endorsed.

"We cannot break the momen-tum of the fight and allow the criminals to go full speed ahead," he told stakeholders in Mandeville on January 3.

The commanding officer for Manchester, Superintendent Martin Baylis, has also welcomed the initiative.

"Crime has become very sophisticated and the police will have to be capable of being ahead of every movement," he said.

Police statistics show that there were 263 major crimes in 2007, down from 296 in 2006.

Murders increased to 30 in 2007, from 25 in 2006.