Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

'While one must respect peoples' privacy, it is important to know your neighbours.'

She trusted nobody and guarded her two children with her life. Her job as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) taught her never to trust a stranger. So when she moved to one of the housing schemes in St Catherine, the female police officer who spoke to The Sunday Gleaner on terms of anonymity, knew none of her neighbours.

"I became very worried, because I worked very long hours and knew there were going to be times when my children would be left alone at home. I did not know who my neighbours were, whether they were drug lords, murderers, gun dealers or paedophiles," the female detective said.

Her first move was to record the licence plates of the vehicles driven by her neighbours and also those of persons who regularly visited these homes. She even wrote down the name she saw on a barrel, thrown outside a gate. The barrel had been previously sent from overseas and was being used as a garbage bin.Equipped with all this information, she processed the licence plate numbers through the JCF database, then checked the motor vehicle owners' names through the criminal records system.

"By using this method, I found out that one of my neighbours was a deportee. I also learnt the names of the others and where they worked," the female officer recounted.

The information gleaned helped her to implement safety measures for her family, and now while she is away from home, she feels more at ease about their safety.

Head of Operation Kingfish, Assistant Commissioner Glenmore Hinds, endorses the 'know-your-neighbour' policy for several reasons.

"I know most of my neighbours, if not all," says the vigilant police officer.

Low crime rate

He stressed that in communities where there are active neighbour-hood watches, the crime rate is very low or almost non-existent.

"Whilst one must respect peoples' privacy, it is important to know your neighbours. For example, there might be a case where a criminal is living in your community," Hinds tells The Sunday Gleaner. "What can happen is that very soon he will start attracting other criminals to the area, or it might be a case where he has enemies and they know where he is living. This will put you and your family at risk when his enemies come looking for him," the ACP adds.

According to Hinds, police intelligence has revealed that a number of persons involved in criminality are living in residential communities above Cross Roads, St Andrew. He says the criminals chose to hide within these communities because they believe the police will have a hard time locating them.

Strange faces

The Rev David Chang, pastor of the Majesty Gardens Covenant Community Church, also endorses the idea of knowing who shares your community space. He explains that sometimes, the criminal who lives in a particular community never attacks his neighbours directly; instead, he facilitates his friends in doing the dirty work.

"You have to keep an eye on the strange face or person who just moves into your community, because wrongdoers or criminals always plan before they act and they never normally dress or look like criminals," comments Rev Chang.

Chang is an ex-convict who was baptised while serving time in prison for manslaughter. He is now on a mission to save as many souls as possible.

glenroy.sinclair@gleanerjm.com

Let us know

To report suspicious activities in your neighbourhood, call Operation Kingfish at 811.