Westmoreland police seek divine intervention to redirect youth from destructive path

WESTERN BUREAU

WITH WESTMORELAND’S homicide rate now at 200 per cent above what it was for the same period in 2021, the police are seeking divine intervention to help rescue and redirect the parish’s young people from a destructive pathway.

Up to Friday, March 4, police statistics showed that Westmoreland has so far recorded 27 homicides, including three double murders. That is an increase of 18 persons, or 200 per cent, when compared to the nine cases recorded for the same period in 2021.

Acknowledging that the Church, over the years, has played a significant role in instilling good, positive values and morals, head of the Westmoreland Police Division Senior Superintendent Robert Gordon called on the Church to intercede on behalf of the youth.

“We are soliciting your help in redirecting, especially, the young men in this parish, because we have observed that they are going down a pathway of destruction,” Gordon said, while speaking during a recent divisional worship service at the Torrington Wesleyan Holiness Church.

In recent years, the parish has seen a surge in youth-related crimes, and so the police are seeking the help of all law-abiding citizens to rescue the next generation.

Gordon said that with the help of the men and women under his command, he remains resolute to rid the streets of illegal guns, and dismantling gangs by arresting and charging the gangsters. But even with that determination and commitment, he admitted that the police are not able to do it alone and is calling for all hands on deck.

“Who is it that is going to say to a young man today, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you?” he asked.

Failure in this rescue mission, he said, is not an option.

“If we fail to do that, it is the streets that is going to do it. But guess what, the street is saying to them, by morning you must get a million dollars, even if it means that you must die young,” Gordon said of the position many young people are choosing.