Editorial | MoBay’s reset template for others

There have been, over many years, numerous initiatives, plans, programmes, schemes and projects aimed at restoring public order to Jamaica’s urban centres. They are usually launched with much fanfare then quickly fizzle to, if not die, merely limp along. The initiators often seem to either lose interest or run out of energy, having come head-on with the difficulty of the undertaking.

Three years ago, for instance, the authorities believed they had hit upon a strategy that would turn around the failures of the past. They merged the police’s safety unit, its motorised patrol division and its traffic division to create a new formation called the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB). Its members on the lime-green motorcycles and wearing luminescent vests would be ubiquitous in the island’s towns and cities, removing hucksters from no-vending zones and prosecuting errant motorists.

“The task of restoring public order and safety is a priority of the Government and as minister of national security, the PSTEB is a reflection of my mandate, which forms part of the overall transformation of the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force),” Horace Chang, the minister, said at the PSTEB’s launch.

Indeed, when the first head of the PSTEB was captured on a viral video giving a fatherly reprimand to someone who was filmed stunt-driving on the public road, he and the police chief were summoned to the Cabinet to be lectured on the Government’s zero-tolerance attitude to public order issues.

“…There can be no prosperity in chaos and disorder,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said at his party’s annual conference in the aftermath of these developments.

LITTLE CHANGE

There has been little change to disorder and ramshackle in Jamaica’s towns and cities. Buses and taxi operators, and other motorists, pay little heed to traffic regulations. Vendors set up their wares and crude stalls on sidewalks and, sometimes, on the roads. The chaos helps to provide cover for criminals.

This newspaper generally agrees with Prime Minister Holness’ statement about the difficulty of achieving prosperity in the midst of disorder and chaos. Which, in part, is why we support reasonable efforts to return order to communities, once they are within the law and respectful of people’s fundamental rights. We understand, too, why many people might be sceptical, cynical even, at the launch of a new initiative – such as the one in Montego Bay – to restore order to public spaces.

The Gleaner, however, is optimistic. Our hope is anchored in the fact that while the local police may be the most visible driver of the programme and its most recognisable face of its enforcement, this is not merely a long-arm-of-the-law kind of initiative. It aims to be a multi-stakeholder at reset, involving the Government – municipal and national – the private sector, NGOs, civil society organisations and, very critically, the people who will be immediately impacted by the initiative.

Often, these projects fail because there are perceived winners and losers. Vendors who encroach on sidewalks and roads, or bus and taxi operators who park in areas that impede traffic, are not unaware of the problem they cause for the good sense of public order. However, they perceive that compliance with the rules comes at an economic disadvantage, which is exacerbated if there is belief that enforcement of the regulations is not even-handed and fair.

EPISODIC ENFORCEMENT

Moreover, Jamaica’s usual episodic enforcement, rather, an ongoing insistence on compliance, distorts norms, making it difficult later on to put things right. This often translates to tough action by the police, which is likely to be interpreted by those at the receiving end as jackbooted intervention.

It appears that in the case of Montego Bay the head of the St James Police Division, Senior Superintendent Vernon Ellis, and his partners in the reset effort are well attuned to these issues. A raft of government regulatory agencies from the municipal authority that sets the city’s by-laws, to the national health ministry that issues food handlers’ permits, are helping to make people compliant with the rules. Private-sector partners will help to develop decent, alternative and viable spaces, where displaced vendors can operate.

A very important component of this enterprise is communication. People are being directly engaged, in relatively intimate settings, on why, and what is in it for them. Usually, affected people are addressed from afar and spoken to, rather than with. The feedback loop tends to be missing. And when there is something resembling a conversation, it is not sustained. That must not happen in Montego Bay.

Montego Bay is a major centre for tourism. The disorder and the crime that envelops the city poses a risk, which is also a threat to the national economy. But fixing the city’s disorder cannot be first for the tourists and tourism. Its primary beneficiary must be Montegonians. In other words, the reset cannot be seen only as a tourist thing. In that event, it will be.

The initiative, however, is off to a promising start. If sustained, it could be a template for the rest of Jamaica.