'We'll protect them'

Top-level British police vow to take care of J'can athletes in Birmingham

A top-level team of officials from the West Midlands Police Authority, and other high-ranking police personnel from the United Kingdom, are leaving nothing to chance when Birmingham, a city in the West Midlands county of England, hosts top Jamaican athletes during the 2012 Olympics.

The security officials, who are on a fact-finding mission to Jamaica, told The Gleaner on Monday that they are making every effort to ensure that Jamaica's Olympic team will be properly taken care of during the massive event.

"We want to reassure Jamaicans that we will look after your top athletics team," said Sharon Rowe, assistant chief constable for West Midlands Police.

With a large African-Caribbean community in Birmingham, the fact-finding mission is also in Jamaica to interact with its local counterparts to get a greater insight into Jamaican policing techniques.

"Birmingham has got a problem with gang-related violence and I feel this is an opportunity for us to build better relationships with Jamaica around exchanging intelligence and exchanging ideas of how we can police different communities," Rowe explained.

"It is really important that police officers that patrol the beat in Birmingham should have a really good cultural understanding of what it's like to police different communities," Rowe said.

Gang violence

Like Jamaica, the city of Birmingham has had serious problems with gang-related violence. However, its extensive community-policing initiatives have been successful in reducing the incidence of gang warfare.

While in Jamaica, the British security officials will hold meetings with a number of persons such as Police Commissioner Owen Ellington, Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Olivia Grange, and principal of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Gordon Shirley.