Mark Titus, Enterprise Reporter

Senior citizens congregate at this shop along 14th Street in Greenvale, Manchester, every day to play domino. They blame migratory criminals for any crime committed in their neighbourhood. - Photos by Mark Titus

Manchester Closed to Crime Initiative -

Confronted with the choice of abiding by the law and remaining in poverty or gaining wealth through illegality, youths in Manchester hot spots are faced with a troubling dilemma.

Unemployed youths in these districts say economic stagnation is the hidden hand driving crime, as many of them are lured into lawlessness because of a dearth of opportunity.

"Is work the youth dem want," Joan, a 41-year-old mother of three, tells The Gleaner team on our arrival in Grey Ground. "I have three bwoy pickney, the last one leave Manchester High in 2006, yet him still can't get anything to do.

"The eldest one get frustrated and from the other day, him a stick out weed and ah sell; the second one leave here couple days ago, and come back with two other youth him say him meet a Youth Service," she adds.

Joan says only a few school leavers succeed in gaining employment, a major push factor behind migration to metropolitan areas.

Bad company

"I cry day and night, because I can't afford fi dem end up inna bad company." She continued, "But whatever they have been doing have been putting bread on the table, so all I can do is pray for them."

The district of Greenvale was like a ghost town when The Gleaner team visited the community about four weeks ago.

A group of about five young men leaned against a wall, ganja spliffs in hand nodding their heads in unison to Mavado's On the Rock. Two much older men leaned against the motor car from which the music blared. Hoping that the older men would be more receptive than the youths, I walked over and introduced myself.

Reds, the driver of the car, was of the view that journalists were police snitches and decided only to listen. However, his friend Turner was keen to voice his opinion.

"Every youth that you see hang off out here, all them want is work," he said. "When a man hungry him want food, you can only get food with money."

Turner continued: "I am not saying that things will not happen, but when a man doesn't have a way to make a living, it is very serious, so if the Government wants to reduce crime, all them have to do is provide jobs."

Drastic improvement

According to Turner, things have improved drastically in the community since the police beefed up patrols in the district, but he was concerned about the possible resurgence of violent crime.

And there is good reason for reservation. There have been at least 15 murders in Manchester this year, the latest being 14-year-old Ricardo Morgan in Long Coffee district on Monday night. The parish recorded 30 murders in 2007.

Superintendent Martin Bayliss says, "I do believe that if more jobs are provided, we will see a drastic reduction in crime, all they need is an opportunity."

The policeman adds: "We have invested a lot of time and money in this community since I came to Manchester last year, and the response has been positive."

According to Bayliss, a police youth club was recently formed in the area and the response has been overwhelming.

Operation Entrepreneurism

The Manchester Chamber of Com-merce has a project called Operation Entrepreneurism, which is described as an offbeat strategy to fight crime.

Operation Entrepreneurism seeks to identify and train jobless individuals in communities with a history of violence to kick-start business ventures.

According to Winston Lawson, president of the Manchester Chamber, the project is a collaborative effort between the Social Development Commission, HEART Trust and the Northern Caribbean University.

"The unconventional way to fight crime is to create initiatives that will foster vibrancy in the economy. This project is now training the second batch, and we are hoping that this addresses, in some way, the whole issue of joblessness," Lawson explains.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com

'Miss Evelyn', a resident of Greenvale, says young people from the area are often refused employment because of the community's stigma.