Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
A PIONEERING focus group project has seen youths rank their local police stations, marking them from 0-10.
Conducted last year, the Police-Youth Relations group discussion focus groups were operated under the Jamaica Social Policy Evaluation Unit (JASPEV), which operates from the Cabinet Office and has a mandate to increase public participation in policy. June 1 will begin the second stage of the focus groups when the results and recommendations will be discussed with police.
This is the first time that members of the public have been asked to rank the police in such a way, according to Keisha Wright, senior research and monitoring officer at the Ministry of National Security, during a JASPEV inter-agency meeting at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, last Thursday.
"The results might not be as scientific as we want but it allows us to see how the youths regard these indicators (of police performance)," said Ms. Wright of the results. She added that the process aims to bolster a code of conduct for community policing and ultimately in the training process.
Some stations did well with Fletchers Land police station in downtown Kingston scoring a perfect 10. Ionie Whorms, chief executive officer of the Inner City Counselling Centre, which is based in that community, said she was aware of the focus group and was not surprised by the result.
GOOD INTERACTION
"Fletchers Land has been crime free for almost three years and that is down to the good interaction between police and the community. We also have the Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica here which increases that interaction," said Ms. Whorms.
According to the results, youths said of the police there: "They can trust them, they interact well with them, they are very responsive and would often talk to the youths if they see them doing something out of the way."
But some stations did not do so well with police scoring one in Rose Town and Lyndhurst Greenwich, Rock Hall, Great Pond, Braeton, Linstead and Gravel Heights. Nevertheless, according to Deputy Superintendent Marlene Wilson-Christie, police have generally been receptive to the process of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Community Relations headquarters, which led the police participation.
"I think it can be very useful because it's an opportunity to dialogue, a lot of officers say there is no truth (in the responses), but I say fine, let us go to the dialogue session and prove it's wrong," said DSP Wilson-Christie.
