#ANicerBay: St Mary police launch effort to make Annotto Bay safer

ANNOTTO BAY, St Mary:

With 13 murders and 10 shootings, Annotto Bay emerged as the most violent community in St Mary last year.

This has led the police in the parish to try and find creative ways to quell the violence that has turned the usually docile town into a hotspot.

As a result, Sergeant Christopher Ward, who previously had success in turning around a rise in criminal activities in Castleton in the parish, was transferred to Annotto Bay and tasked with the responsibility.

On Tuesday, a wide cross section of the society turned out at the bus park in Annotto Bay to participate in the launch of the ‘#ANicerBay’ initiative, aimed at turning the fortunes of Annotto Bay around.

“After being here for over six months, I’ve done some assessment and realise that we still have good persons here and we can change it if we call the people together, call our community together, the religious groups and everyone, and if everyone is on board we believe that this whole bad place, hot zone, blood lane, we can change that into, in fact, a nicer bay. Hence I conceptualised this hashtag,” Ward explained to The Gleaner.

While he was happy for the turnout, Ward admitted that he would have preferred to see more business people, and more of the youth on the corner, who had pledged to be there, noting that he will be pursuing them.

Sociological standpoint

“What we’ll be doing right after this, we’ll be going into those communities with our social workers because, as I said, we are approaching this thing from a sociological standpoint. We want to know what are the social problems that are contributing to Annotto Bay having this haemorrhage of bloodletting in the community.”

The #ANicerBay initiative got support from several organisations which were represented at the launch.

Pastor Adlai Blythe, president of the North East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said his church stands ready to partner with the authority and with anybody to ensure that Annotto Bay becomes #ANicerBay, and would continue to pray for its success.

Dr Norman Dunn, member of parliament for South East St Mary, and his counterpart, Dr Shane Alexis, both attended and pledged their support. So, too, the justices of the peace in the parish.

Dunn said Annotto Bay was long ago a nicer bay, and will be again. He also hailed the police for their efforts to bridge the gap between them and the public. Alexis described #ANicerBay as a step in the right direction and presented Sergeant Ward with dozens of lapel pins branded with the hashtag.

Agencies supporting the initiative include the fire department, Heart Trust, Ministry of Labour, Family Services, Restorative Justice, Social Development Commission, 4H, taxi associations.

Already, there are several items branded with the hashtag, including umbrellas and cups.

Superintendent Bobette Morgan, who hailed the initiative, and several other top-ranking police personnel from the parish turned out for the launch.