'Safe and sound'

Bart Chan, Gleaner Writer

An old, torn armchair lies on Wildman Street's pavement, its rusty springs poking out through the flower-patterned fabric. A shopping trolley is dumped redundantly upside-down, all its wheels missing. Pieces of disused wood scatter the road, a scruffy dog crosses over seeking shade, and phone wires above zigzag beneath a cloudless, blue sky.

Kevia, 22, and her neighbour Qutie, 45, sit on a wooden table. Below them are discarded ends of vegetables.

"Safe, safe, safe," says Qutie, describing how she feels in her community. "I sleep with both my doors open."

Both women say they feel very secure in their part of central Kingston, and although they don't see the police that often - "perhaps a police jeep a day," says Kevia - they believe the police are doing a good job.

Direct result of policing

Police Superintendent Steve McGregor, who is in charge of the division, believes so, too, and says the reduction in crime and murder in the area "has been a direct result of policing".

The statistics are striking: the August murder rate plunged an incredible 90 per cent with one reported murder, compared to 10 in August 2009. There were a reported 39 murders in 2009; this year has witnessed 25, so far.

McGregor says police initiatives have had a significant impact on the falling rates.

"We have increased police numbers downtown ... . There are more foot and motorised patrols, and regular community meetings with residents have enabled the police to create partnerships with people."

Yet, the superintendent is cautious.

"We are not dancing on the tables about it," he tells The Gleaner, citing a need for greater "consistency" in policing and "devising new strategies to sustain" the lower crime and murder rates.

Kevia and Qutie agree, partially, with McGregor. Qutie, who works in a cookshop and couldn't send her children to school for three weeks because she couldn't afford the uniforms, explains what the police are doing right.

"The police are meeting with the youth. They've got a police-run youth club going on. They organise football and basketball tournaments," says Qutie. "We have a good relationship with the police. They're doing everything they can."

Both Qutie and Kevia say they couldn't remember the last time anything dramatic happened since the state of emergency clampdown. It's so quiet now, jokes Qutie, who said she even "longs to hear a gunshot".

Police can claim responsibility for another rate going down: the party rate. The two women of Wildman Street complain that the police don't allow them to have street parties anymore.

"We have no army here, but they'd be better. They'd let you have a party," says Qutie, smiling.

In the office of a nearby hardware store, the air conditioning is at full blast, and the phone rarely rings.

Scott, the manager, chats with a friend on his mobile phone while checking his Facebook account on the Web. Scott, 28, recently returned from holidays and is getting back into the rhythm of work he has done for the past four years.

He tells The Gleaner he is not certain the police deserve all the credit for the reduction in August's murder rate, offering instead, "It could be that the gangs are getting along better."

He is somewhat sceptical of the claim local police patrols have increased.

"I don't see a heavy police presence around here," says Scott, his 32-year-old secretary nodding in agreement. "We see a policeman once in a blue moon."

Both Scott and his secretary feel safe where they work. She has worked in central Kingston for 10 years, and says, "Business is good, there are no problems here."

Scott argues that his store is spared because it is located in a section of the city in which there is "no real crime". Other areas aren't so fortunate.

The crime situation in other parts of central Kingston is so desperate that Scott jokingly suggests the only solution is to "drop a bomb in the area and start from scratch. Other people think the same, but won't say it out loud.

"There are simply not enough jobs here. People aren't making enough money to live on. Even beggars with the right strategy can make more money than people on wages," the hardware store manager added. "These places are full of beggars, people who try to steal things like electricity, and the kids don't go to school."

Scott's ironic humour kicks in again. "We need to move these people from the area and put them in the countryside where they can do something useful, like work on a farm."

Job creation important

Norma Evans, a security guard two weeks into her job at Tools Hardware & Supplies, believes job creation is "more important" than simply flooding central Kingston's streets with more police.

Nonetheless, Evans says, "The police should keep up the good job, coming round and talking to people."

Ronald Thwaites, the member of parliament for the Central Kingston constituency, tells The Gleaner that crime reduction in the area "is connected to decreased access to guns and ammunition from other communities".

However, the numerous unemployed people, like Kevia, want jobs. Thwaites estimates there is around "80 per cent unemployment" in his constituency, and that "the chief contributor to crime is idleness, not poverty".

The opposition lawmaker says he is addressing the issue of job creation through a number of programmes and initiatives.

"We have an urban housing renewal programme which will renovate the area," says Thwaites. "It starts on Hanover Street and will provide affordable apartments, using local labour and training people at the same time."

Thwaites listed three other initiatives which he believes will help tackle crime. He aims to make sure "every child leaving school can read and write".

Second, he is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to refurbish school furniture. Thwaites says this will "increase employment and improve skills". Also, Thwaites cited a "small-business programme" which encourages local businesses to thrive.

Nonetheless, Thwaites warned, "All of these together are still not enough.

"Successive governments have ignored the inner cities and a lot of the money used to fight crime should be used to create jobs."

It seems the residents of central Kingston wouldn't disagree. Qutie, who has since changed into her best clothes, says "lack of jobs is the real crime".