SCHOOLBOYS attending a number of high schools in St Catherine are forming themselves into gangs named after the two prominent criminal networks that control the extortion racket in Spanish Town, the parish capital.

The youngsters, most of whom reside in from crime-riddled communities in Spanish Town, have dubbed themselves ‘Junior One Order’ and ‘Junior Clansman’ and have embarked on their own campaign of robbery and extortion of lunch money from students on school campuses.

Coordinator of the policing aspect of the Safe Schools Programme, Deputy Superintendent of Police Mervin McNab confirmed that the young gangsters were active in the schools and said a number of boys had already been sentenced in the courts for activities including robbery.

“At Innswood High, we have the Junior One Order there. It started raising its head in Eltham (High) but we got that one out. The schools in Portmore have their little gangs there,” McNab told the Sunday Observer on Friday.

The Clansman and One Order gangs, affiliated to the governing People’s National Party and opposition Jamaica Labour Party, respectively, have been blamed for the ongoing murder, intimidation and extortion that have plagued Jamaica’s former capital Spanish Town for a number of years.

The latest flare of violence has seen some 18 people murdered in the last three weeks, prompting a massive prayer rally by church members, and a huddle between church leaders and the police to devise strategies to stem the bloodletting.

McNab explained that the boys from the violent communities meet in school and form teams to extort money from other students.

“If the other children don’t give them their money, they beat them up,” he said.

The upsurge of gang activity in St Catherine schools adds to the worrisome trend of violence in schools islandwide, which seems to be escalating.

Last week, there were reports of violent attacks on teachers by students at two rural area schools: Knockalva Technical High in Hanover in the western end of the island, and St Thomas Technical High in the east.

In each case, the boys involved in the attacks are now before the courts.

To prevent the activities of the gangs, the school resource officers – the title given to police personnel attached to schools under the Safe Schools Programme – keep the boys suspected to be gang members under constant watch, McNab told the Sunday Observer.

However, he was unable to confirm whether the schoolboys were in fact affiliated with the One Order and Clansman gangs, or had merely claimed the names because of the fear the gangs instill.

The policeman, believes, however, that the boys use the names to intimidate their victims.

He said those youngsters found with knives were arrested and charged under the Offensive Weapons Act, while others were cited for robbery and extortion.

“We have talked to them over and over, so when we find them with knives, rather than counselling them, we take them to court,” McNab said, adding that the parents and guardians of the troublemakers seem to show no interest in changing their boys’ behaviour.

“When we send for the parents to ask what is happening at home or in the community, to find out why is their son behaving that way, they don’t come,” he said.

“But as soon as you take them to the (police) station, the whole family is there.” After sentencing some of the boys are sent to juvenile institutions, while others receive counselling and are sent back to the same schools.

… Special schools needed for troubled teens

DEPUTY Superintendent Mervin McNab, coordinator of the policing arm of the Safe Schools Programme, and Jamaica Teacher’s Association president-elect Hopeton Henry are both in favour of establishing special schools for troubled teens.

“Apart from the boot camps run by the National Youth Service (NYS), a specialised institution is needed, perhaps similar to that at Tranquility Bay,” said Henry in an interview with the Sunday Observer.

The boot camps he referred to were the special behavioural camps ran by the NYS for the last two summers for troubled teens identified in several high schools.

Tranquility Bay, an offshore school for teenagers, is a controversial boarding school in St Elizabeth for American children with serious behavioural problems.

“We need to look at the progarmme at Tranquility Bay and Alpha Boys School and have broad discussions across the board to see what we can do for our children who have reached the chronic stage,” said Henry.

McNab agreed, saying some boys needed to be separated from their environment for up to three years for their behaviour to change.

“You will talk to a young man now, and you believe he conforms but afterwards he goes into the community, where the intimidation and the rapes take place, where the Don sends for his sister and has sex with her and sends her back home,” said McNab.

“These are the things that anger him, but possibly they even excite him,” he said.

Accepting that the solution might be costly, McNab said the cost involved in implementing such a programme would be far less than the toll on security and health care from violent crime.

editorial@jamaicaobserver.com