Mandeville, Manchester:

The Mandeville police, Minister's Fraternal, political representatives and a number of business persons are once again making an attempt to bring some semblance of law and order to the strife-torn community of Greenvale.

A community meeting was held with the residents to air their complaints and desires for development, and map a plan to put an end to the violence that has plagued the community for the last 10 years.

The approximately 200 residents who turned up at the meeting were most critical of the treatment meted out to them by members of the security force.

Stories of atrocities

They passionately related stories of atrocities committed against them by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) who, they claim, "take set on the young people".

They were particularly concerned that there seemed to be an ingrained lack of respect for persons from that community, not only by the JCF but also from Mandeville's business sector.

Citing the lack of jobs and the inability of most persons to find financing to start their own projects, resident and businessman Devon Richards said there were highly skilled persons in the district but they were unemployable because they come from Greenvale.

The stigma, he said, extended not only to the job market, but also to stores offering consumer credit.

Errol Gordon, president of the Greenvale Community Council, was also concerned about the fear now flowing through the community.

Lack of appropriate policing

This he attributed to the lack of appropriate policing. He pointed out that "where the security forces are absent, the dons usually fill the gap", leaving the residents to depend on him (don) for everything the state should have been doing.

Greenvale district has become notorious for registering the highest number of gun crimes in the region, as well as being a fortress for criminals, a very upset female resident told The Gleaner.

This image the organisers of the meeting hope to change by assisting the police to remove those who cause the problems.

Members of the Mandeville police pleaded with the residents to join forces with them to stem the tide of criminal activity. However, the residents made it clear that there was a trust issue.

"We risk our lives when we tell the police anything," one teenager was overheard saying, before his friend took the microphone and challenged the lawmen to guarantee their safety after giving them information.

Other residents blamed some community persons for their current situation, pointing out that there were those who were "hugging up" criminals.

One resident, who gave her name as Pauline, said the few people who were destroying the community give the impression to the outside world that only "brutes and animals" live in Greenvale, and that needed to change.

With a significant number of the community's young men now facing a variety of criminal charges, ranging from simple larceny to murder, the crime-torn community registered 12 murders and approximately 20 incidents involving guns this year.

- Angelo Laurence