Mark Titus, Enterprise Reporter

Youngsters in the volatile community of Bamboo River enjoy a game of 'scrimmage'. About 40 per cent of the youths living in the neighbourhood are unemployed. - Photo by Mark Titus

THE ST Thomas police division is moving to reorientate tough-image crime-fighters to adopt the somewhat 'softer' principles of community policing - where friendships and partnerships are forged with residents.

Divisional commander of the St Thomas police, Superintendent Marlon Nesbeth, said cops would be more willing to come onboard when they realise that community policing was at the core of the constabulary's ethos.

Not turning a blind eye

"When they get into the whole idea of community policing and the tenets of it, they realise that it is not something new to them," he said, "because even though they are hardcore, upfront crime-fighting officers, they have been doing aspects of it in their own little way.

"So we try to let them understand that … community policing is not that you go into an area and turn a blind eye to anything," he continued.

Nesbeth's mission of building bridges between communities and the police has already begun to bear fruit.

Aiming to develop area

One such partnership was consummated with the official launch of the Bamboo River Safety and Security Committee on Sunday. The group, which consists of members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Social Development Commission (SDC) and the Bamboo River community, aims to be a leading player in the area's development.

"With community policing, we seek to (create) partnership and collaborate with citizens and to see how best we can solve even their own problems, along with the help of other agencies," Nesbeth explained.

Rise in crime

Bamboo River saw an escalation in crime in the latter part of 2007, in step with national trends which recorded the second most murderous year - 1,574 victims - in Jamaica's history. More than 700 persons have already been killed in 2008.

According to a police survey, there are 150 households in the neighbourhood, with an average of four individuals to each family unit. Some 60 per cent of Bamboo River's population is below the age of 25, with 40 per cent of that subgroup jobless.

Sgt Charmaine Shand, subofficer in charge of the division's Community Safety and Security Branch, said the partnership with the sometimes-volatile community has helped to eliminate some of the animosity between residents and the lawmen.

"The citizens do understand that if an offence is committed, we will come down with the full force of the law, but what community policing does is create an avenue for greater reaction between the public and the police," Shand said.

In the keynote address at the function, Luther Cummings, parish manager for the SDC, said community collaboration was critical to the success of the anti-crime thrust.

"Community policing is based on partnership and empowerment, it is a way of ensuring joint performance in the delivery of common objective," he said. "The added value of this collaborative approach stems from the improved ability to address problems whose solution spans various agencies."

Branching out

Nesbeth also told The Gleaner that similar initiatives would be launched in the Navar Lane and Blacksmith areas of Seaforth. The St Thomas police will also be taking steps to stem the bloodletting in the southern town of Yallahs, which has accounted for 13 of the 19 murders committed in the division this year.

While the superintendent has witnessed the introduction of a number of crime-fighting initia-tives and their subsequent failure throughout his 25-year career, he is quite confident that the new initiative will produce positive results.

Police divisions islandwide will, over the next few months, be spearheading a number of similar exercises, where community police officers will be introduced to the members of the respective areas. The national launch for the community-based policing project will be on June 20.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com