Richard Troupe: Glorifying guns, violence endangers youths

The normalisation of violence and glorification of guns in the Jamaican culture are sending a dangerous message to children, warns Richard Troupe, director of Safety and Security at the Ministry of Education and Youth.

Speaking on Thursday at the United Nations’ Saving Lives Entity (SALIENT) project closure event, he raised urgent concerns about the nation’s vulnerability to small arms, especially in schools ill-equipped to counter such threats.

“We do not manufacture guns. The ease of which small arms seem to flow in our country is a cause for concern. The vulnerability of the education system as a result of proliferation of small arms in this country is a cause for concern,” Troupe said.

Highlighting the issue of small arms and light weapons proliferation and their impact on violence in Jamaica, the SALIENT project aims to address the problem by working with local authorities and law enforcement to improve detection capabilities and reduce the availability of illicit firearms. The goal is to foster peace and build a non-violent society.

Jamaica is the first and one of eight countries to implement the SALIENT programme to address the supply of guns and violence in schools and communities. According to data provided by the programme, 48,900 Jamaicans have been murdered since independence – with 80 per cent of the crimes committed using a gun.

The other participating countries are Cameroon, Ghana, Honduras, Kyrgyz Republic, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and South Sudan.

‘SENDING A DANGEROUS MESSAGE’

Troupe said, unlike neighbouring countries, who have the system to respond to incidents – able to press a button and shut down the entire school system – Jamaica is not afforded that opportunity.

“(And) You can understand why. We are a tropical country and so when our schools were being built, they were built with blocks to facilitate the ease of breeze flowing through the classrooms and things like that, and so, for us as a ministry, this policy was very critical,” Troupe said.

He emphasised that Jamaica cannot rely on a “gut feeling” response to the violence crisis.

“It’s not good enough that we are saying to our educators, you do this on your own. We already saw the impact of this on our education system. In recent times colleagues would be very familiar with a case in St Elizabeth where a primary school child took a submachine gun to school,” Troupe said.

He said the school leader did what was expected – allow law enforcement to handle it – but, unfortunately, there were persons who believed the school had responded incorrectly.

“‘They should not have called the police, the gun should have been handed over to who was the owner’ [were some of the public criticisms]. So we are in a country, too, that glorifies violence. The songs that we hear playing across our radios and dancehall and things like that glorify – in every music video you see either the prop gun or real gun, whatever. It is sending a dangerous message to our nation’s children,” Troupe said.

He affirmed that the SALIENT programme partnership allowed the education ministry, as well as critical stakeholders to coordinate effectively.

“We were allowed to use the visual and performing arts as a vehicle to engage our nation’s children around this very important issue,” Troupe said.

“The development of a policy document [on firearms in schools] allowed us to look at how do we also engage our students in this process, create the space for conversation, create the space where they can use their creativity to develop messages around the issue of gun violence.”

TIMELY INTERVENTION

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) noted that the potential socioeconomic value of the SALIENT project far exceeds its monetary investment.

The project lasted 48 months, implemented in two phases, with resources of US$750,000 (approximately J$118,500,000) provided by international partners for the UN and the Government of Jamaica to tackle the proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

“The intervention was timely and relevant to the current thrust of the Government of Jamaica to bolster efforts towards improved citizen security, safety, social justice and the whole-of-government approach to strengthen the delivery of related services and the associated institutional framework and mechanisms,” the PIOJ said.

The PIOJ added that the project complements other ongoing school-based interventions promoting security and safety, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund supported school-wide positive behaviour system and Safe School Project.

“The SALIENT project was a very unique intervention that allowed for an integrated approach between the ministries to proactively tackle issues related to the gaps around use of firearms in society and specifically those in our school communities,” the PIOJ said.

Violence audits were conducted over two phases of the project: first in Denham Town (Kingston) and Norwood (St James), and then in Fairfield (Clarendon) and Savanna-la-Mar (Westmoreland).

The findings will be used by the government to support evidence-based decision-making.

The PIOJ acknowledged the UN’s support in promoting policy and cultural change regarding firearms in schools, with the primary output being the development of a draft protocol on firearms in schools.

“United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime support to review the legislation around firearms and, of course, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization support provides training and capacity building to select schools by creating a safe space for learning and life skills development which impacts both students and teachers,” the PIOJ said.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com