RESIDENTS of the once sleepy town of Mandeville are living in fear as acts of crime, ranging from praedial larceny to murder, increase in the area.

The town has been the scene of crimes such as the disappearance of the elderly couple Richard and Julia Lyn more than two weeks ago. Others who have gone missing in the past weeks include Albert Wright, 87, Terry-Ann Powell, 15, and Jerrod Roberts, 23. Just two years ago, a former student at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) was abducted and murdered.

One resident who lives on the town’s outskirts, told the Observer he has suffered two break-in attempts and several “through-the-window” robberies since the late 1990s. His neighbours have now become the targets.

“My house has been constantly stalked by some young men. They pull out the louvre blades… fashion a hook and take things through the window,” he said.

Fear, he said, is not unusual in his neighbourhood, noting that especially since a murder there some weeks ago, one of his neighbours has refused to stay at home alone at nights. In that incident, he said a woman – the daughter of a man shot and injured weeks earlier – was murdered as she returned home in her father’s vehicle.

“I have not been particularly scared, but I’m totally annoyed. Some of my neighbours are scared and (the one) beside me doesn’t stay home at nights. It’s just too much,” he lamented.

“We’ve asked the police to patrol the area, which they do once in a blue-blue moon, but when you call them they come with their sirens and their marked vehicles and that doesn’t help. They have not been able to catch up with anybody.”

But the Constabulary Communication Network’s senior liaison officer for Manchester, Sergeant Rovan Salmon, insisted that the police have stepped up efforts to tackle the increase in crime.

“Manchester has seen its fair share of crime. But we have put a lid on things. We have increased our presence on the streets, especially for the festive season where extra persons have been put on the beat,” he told the Observer. “We’ve stepped up mobile patrols, have put more plain clothes police on the streets and we’ve put a log book in certain business places, which we have to sign when we stop and check up on things.”

He said, too, that the police are seeking to build a closer relationship with the citizens, as part of their community-based policing policy. He noted that they hold meetings with community members and attend neighbourhood watch sessions to encourage people to call them if they notice strangers or unusual activity in their areas.

But the male resident said he has not seen that happening in his community and that, in fact, the neighbourhood watch programme is “not too strong”. As a result, he has taken steps to try to prevent criminals from targeting his house.

“I cut down all the limbs of the trees in my yard and I have put up lights all around… We also make sure we shut the windows tightly instead of just pushing them up,” he said.

In other neighbourhoods, residents have reportedly also been fleeced of their possessions. One woman said one of her daughters went to their kitchen one night a year-and-a-half ago, and saw a hand taking out the cutting utensils. The window had been closed but not properly locked.

Another woman had her handbag with her identification cards and other documents stolen through her bedroom window earlier this year. She has reported the matter to the police but nothing has come of it.

– thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com