At risk youth more than police can handle — DCP Blake
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Deputy Commissioner of Police Clifford Blake says that the police and the courts are unable to keep up with the number of at-risk youths in some communities.
“When we look at what is happening in the schools, were it a production line and we were producing criminals at the pace that they are being produced, and they are basically being thrown into the society, the supply would far outpace the demand that we have for them,” he said.DSP Blake was speaking at the Guardsman Group sponsored private/public sector partnership forum on security titled “Our Nation’s Security”, at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston yesterday. He said that whenever the police were able to arrest even five of these youths, there were always up to a dozen more to replace them.“Policing and the court system just cannot keep up with the at risk youths in these communities…we have to find a way at some stage in their early life. We need to find out at what age do we capture our youths and divert them from the criminal path and a life of crime,” he said.He added that a partnership between the security forces and the private sector was critical, as the entire society has a responsibility to the process.Balford Henry