Grants Pen youngsters encouraged to join police force
RESIDENTS of the Grants Pen have, over the years, had several clashes with the police, accusing them of being hostile when they go on operations in the poor, inner-city St Andrew community.
However, the police have been trying to change that image, by introducing several community projects, which in the end they hope will cut the high level of crime in the community.
Yesterday, the Community Relations Department of the St Andrew North (Constant Spring) Division, as part of its programme to introduce a softer method of policing in Grants Pen, told the youngsters at the New Day Primary and Junior High School about a career in the police force as part of the school’s career week celebrations.
Inspector Pauline Pink and Corporal Judith Pownall, gave a short pep talk to the 120 ninth graders who attended the session. The students also viewed a video presentation and received pamphlets about the force, informing them of the different areas of skills that would be available upon enlistment.
In responding to the reaction of the students to the invitation to pursue a career in the force, Corporal Pownall said, “When we started no one wanted to become a police officer. When we finished our session I saw seven people put up their hands, saying they would join the force. It is an improvement.”
Inspector Pink told the Observer that the move was part of an initiative by the police to boost the morale of the young people in the division.
“This is one of our outreach programmes where we go and visit schools and instill some sort of discipline and boost the morale of the students by giving them lectures and being there for them,” Pink remarked. Also planned, according to Pink, are Big Brother and Big Sister programmes. This initiative, the officer said, would be aimed at delinquent children in the police division.
“We are working closely with the delinquent children from the different schools. To give them a ray of hope. Teachers and parents sometimes see them as bad eggs and that dampens their spirits tremendously. When we work with them they feel much better, they come and see us and we monitor them on a weekly basis,” the soft-spoken Pink said.
Seventy-five per cent of the students who attend the New Day Primary and Junior High School are residents of the Grants Pen community.