Community and police tame crime
Published:Saturday | January 29, 2011 | 12:00 AM
SLIGOVILLE, St Catherine:
A SIGN tells me I have arrived in Sligoville but there is nothing to herald my arrival. The stadium is empty and the silence is almost surreal after leaving the early morning buzz of downtown Kingston. On the way, I didn't even pass anyone who qualified as a hitchhiker and now am cursing myself for not stopping at the police station to ask a few questions.
Turning the vehicle, I am drawn to a building just short of reaching the station. There is no signage and I figure it's a grocery shop. I am wrong. After hearing me out with patience reminiscent of a schoolteacher, postmistress Kathleen Hutchinson decides that I need to get in touch with the Bairds.
Sensing my apprehension as I try to ascertain the 'real' distance to the square where I should turn off, she calls the house on her cellular phone. In short order the matter is settled, the Bairds will see me, despite the short notice. All the time we are talking the young woman who was sweeping the office comes to a standstill watching the drama being played out. I am the biggest act in town today, it seems. I thank the kind postmistress and head off.
The woman officer I encounter at the station is very polite but a little puzzled by my request for information. Unsure of how to proceed, she directs me to speak with 'Sarge' in the next office. With my presence announced Sarge shouts a welcome and I am pleasantly surprised to find he is none other than Troy Anderson, a friend of old.
Relationship
Crime, he tells me is "exceptionally low" in Sligoville, attributing this to the strong community-based model. "We have meetings regularly and decide on how best to move forward and because of the strength of that relationship, people more often than not don't even consider committing crime," he explains.
"The most you will find are disputes and they are family-related for the most part because Sligoville really is a family district. Almost every everybody is connected from district to district and so it's not very, very challenging in terms of crime and gang conflict. We don't have that really," Sergeant Anderson adds.
Working with the Catholic Church, Food For The Poor, Social Development Commission and Digicel as their primary partners, the community and police have been able to positively engage young people from the 17 neighbouring districts in a very close-knit relationship. Regular school visits by the police that allow the children to interact with them in a neutral environment are a big help. Still, Anderson who has been stationed at Sligoville since July 2010 and his team have not been lulled into a fall sense of security, strong community relationship notwithstanding
"The geographical outlay would suggest that it is not difficult for persons when they are displaced to want to settle but when we have these meetings, we help the community to understand that if they hide or in anyway facilitate criminal elements it will backfire and what they want is what we want - solace," Sergeant Anderson shares.
"We really bank on the police-community relationship and it seems to be really working for us. We are still not lax because we still do patrols and have spot checks," he discloses.
With Sligoville now getting more traffic as a result of being the primary alternative route whenever the Bog Walk gorge is closed, the police are aware of how easy it might be for criminals to access the area on their way to or from committing crimes.
In fact, one of their big successes was the seizure last year of two firearms during a spot check. The gunmen had committed robberies in another area and were using Sligovile as their escape route, but the quick response of the police thwarted their efforts.
"We are still out there doing our thing but, in terms of the area itself, we don't have a lot of challenges," Anderson confirmed.