INNER city residents and police officers, who are to participate in a new programme aimed at resolving potential conflicts between citizens and the police, on Thursday graduated from a course in conflict resolution at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) offices in downtown Kingston.

The programme comprised of 34 residents of eight inner-city communities and 16 members of the police force from stations in these communities.

JCC executive director, Trevor Fearon, said he was “very pleased” that the chamber was to be associated with such a programme, and that it was “unquestionably committed to resolve the problems in the inner-city communities.”

The six-week long training programme has included training in dispute resolution, a detailed study of the Code of Conduct applicable to police activities, as well as the formation of Community Conflict Resolution Councils (CCRCs) involving both the residents and the police. The purpose of the councils will be to resolve both citizen-citizen and police-citizen conflicts through mediation.

Businessman and chairman of the JCC Innercity Development Committee, Sameer Younis, said the initiative could be a new starting point for Jamaica. “We must learn to resolve the conflicts in the inner-city areas before it gets too bad,” he urged. “And if we succeed with this, we will see it being spread all over the island.

Citibank country corporate officer and guest speaker, Peter Moses, said: “Too often conflict in Jamaica ends in the loss of life for the simplest of reasons. This initiative is about the saving of lives.”

The civilian participants were selected by their respective communities, and will be expected to act as resource persons to aid in the effort to prevent conflicts from potentially deadly escalation.

President of JCC graduates club, Peter Matthews, said that one of the biggest challenges during the course of training had been the issues and perceptions people had with the police. “But this programme is about working together, and finding a new future,” he said. “We’re now trying to make a difference – too often the little people get over-looked.” Assistant police commissioner, Leebert Lawrence, said the initiative was being welcomed by the police. “Mediation is the way to go in the fight against crime, and the police cannot do that on its own,” he said.

One of the graduates, Douglas Reid, from Mall Road CCRC, told the Observer he was “very honoured” to be elected as representative by the citizens in his local community. “I am committed to this, not only as a Samaritan, but to all the members of society, and we must strive to achieve this,” he said. “We are now starting a new community together, and we must work together to solve the current situation in the inner-city areas of Kingston.” The other communities involved comprised Waterhouse, Portmore Gardens, Rockfort, Fletcher’s Land/Orange Villa, Trench Town/Rema, Jones Town, and Coburn Gardens.

The course of training was designed and executed by the Disputes Resolution Foundation (DRF), an organisation which has worked to establish peaceful methods of resolving disputes in Jamaica since 1994. DRF spokeswoman and course trainer, Donna Parchment, commented that the initiative was being viewed by the DRF as “a respectful response to the current situation in the inner-city communities.”