IN an effort to get young people interested and participating in the fight against crime, about 30 young Jamaicans on Monday met with a group of their British peers, via video phone, to discuss community policing and other crime fighting initiatives employed in both countries.

The conference was dubbed ‘British Jamaican Link Up’.

For 90 minutes, panelists, who also included representatives of both countries’ police bodies, government officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), shared views on how parenting, popular music and issues affect the rates of crime in their communities.

But before the conference got underway, the Jamaicans held a forum of their own, debating issues including abstinence and police/youth relationships. Out of those discussions, a number of strong comments, anecdotes and suggestions came from the very articulate youngsters, who were at first reluctant to share their opinions.

“First of all, you need to target the people who commit the crime,” Gary Gordon, a peer counsellor affiliated with the Jamaica Peer Counselling Association said.

“Like this discussion, for example, if you look around the room, most of the people here are female, and not that they don’t have anything to contribute, but if you check the numbers you see it’s the males that are involved in crime. We need to find a way to get the males talking, get to a level where man an’ man can reason and out of that we can go forward because they have something to say too,” the youngster added.

Another young man suggested that police officers be stationed in communities where they have a vested interest — such as a home in the area or family connections — which would give them a link with the residents with whom they have to work.

Lawmen, he argued, are now too emotionally detached from the communities and people they serve.

“Nuh police nuh fi drive in an out of a community where him work, (car) glass tint an air condition on,” he said to loud applause. “Dem nuh fi jus’ go inna people community an beat up yout’ jus so. Dem fi walk, an dem fi have other reason than work fi go round deh, so that what dem do here, dem do knowing is dem family or friends or colleagues that going to be affected by their actions, good or bad.”

Meanwhile in London, over 100 black youths met with senior government officials and police officers at the House of Commons, where they held similar talks to those in Jamaica. Afterwards, the two countries were linked by videophone, allowing youth from both sides of the Atlantic to speak to each other about the crimes and crime solutions they had earlier debated.

The ‘British Jamaican Link Up’ is the second of its kind, and was made possible by the British Metropolitan Black Police Association (BMBPA) and Jamaica’s Ministry of National Security. For some, the conference was an important step in tackling crime.

“We all know what the problem here is, so it’s good to know that its not just us faced with the problem of crime,” said Ricardo Bennett of the Peer Counselling Association of Jamaica. “And although we know that what may work in Jamaica may not work in England and vice versa, the exchange of ideas, talking about our problems and the solutions is beneficial.”

But he warned that if the conference were not followed up by action, nothing would have been gained.

“We can always talk about these things but at some point in time we need to do them as we speak,” he said. “I hear people talking over and over again, but I hope this time what the youth have to say doesn’t fall on deaf ears. That is the downfall of Jamaica — too much talk, not enough action.”