Thieves are virtually in control of the business community of downtown Kingston.

While vendors are not generally the targets, unsuspecting customers going about their business often fall prey to the thieves who often lie in wait to make their move.

“Di man dem will grab people tings an’ run yes,” Juliet, a vendor on Princess Street confirmed with the Jamaica Observer. “That a regular ting down a town yah.

“When dem hungry you see dem watch people’ an will grab a man phone or chain an’ dem ting deh an’ run weh wid it,” she continued.

This thinking has transcended decades of Jamaica’s history. Women and men alike tightly clench their bags and precious items as they peruse stalls, stores and wholesales in the busy community.

Keneisha Smith, a customer who frequents the Parade area, told the Jamaica Observer that though she isn’t from Kingston, she was adequately cautioned to be “extremely careful and alert” when she first visited the commercial district.

“Thief always deh a town; from mi little mi always a hear that,” Smith stated.

Always bearing this in mind, Smith said she has developed her survival mechanism which she employs on each trip to the often crowded area.

“I always ensure I carry a small shoulder bag that I am able to keep in front of me and I never wear jewellery, gold especially, to limit the attention that I may draw to myself,” she noted.

“I also make an effort to avoid using my phone,” she continued. “If I must use it, I try to do so in one of the more established stores, rather than at a random wholesale which tends to be way busier and plays host to some unsavoury characters.”

On the other hand, one shopper who identified herself as Nikki said she travels with a bag large enough to hold all the items she purchases, to keep at minimum the number of bags she carries.

According to Nikki, this is to attract as little attention as possible and better keep track of her purchases.

“To be honest, the crime ting right here so, is just like the guy dem weh grab your gold an’ so,” Miss Pat, a vendor in North Parade, told the Sunday Observer. “You know, pickpockets always deh ’bout town so people just haffi careful wid dem tings when dem come here.”

“A regular you see a man a run and somebody after dem; you hear say a thief him thief people things and gone. There is nothing to that on this side, a more like down a West and Coronation Market you will see more action in terms of crime,” she stated.

But what can be done to curb the level of theft in the business community?

Michelle, who has been selling in the downtown community for over 30 years, has lost hope that there is a solution. She too advised that people “just have to be vigilant” whenever they visit.

“Me no know if the police can do anything at all yaw man, unless them deh right weh it a happen.

“Me deh here so already an’ a man grab a man chain an’ a run weh wid it, an’ all the police a run him down him couldn’t catch him,” the vendor said.

“One other time one a di man dem grab a white woman chain an, the white man weh she did deh wid run him down, you see, and him catch him. When him catch him dem give him some lick out deh,” she continued.

“The police station jus’ deh right deh so, enuh,” she said pointing to the Darling Street Police Station, “an police couldn’t ketch di boy weh tief di people tings.”

Smith warned that some criminals approach unassuming shoppers under false pretences.

“A lot of the men, the beggars/thief, what they tend to do is they come under the guise of knowing you and say, ‘Oh, you know say me a di garbage man, but you nuh really pay me, no mind when you see me’ or they will come an say,’Yuh nuh memba me; me a the man weh fix this person house or something like that,’” she stated.

“More than likely you will not know them, so what you have to do is not let them corner you. As soon as you can just dodge out,” she noted. “Walk away as quickly as you can to a more crowded spot because that’s one of the tactics they tend to use ­— they corner you in a wholesale when nobody else is around or just as you reach out in a place where there are not many people.”

She explained that their intention is to have individuals isolated and contemplating the ridiculous claim “before they pounce on you”.

Despite the notion that thieves are all over downtown Kingston, the police have reported a decrease in of larceny and an increase in the number of perpetrators.

Superintendent Wilfred Campbell, who has responsibility for Kingston Central Division, which includes the Parade area of downtown Kingston, said strategies have been employed to curb the level of larceny around parts of the district.

“When I actually came to Kingston Central, it was said that a lot of larceny was taking place and then I started to account for all the reported instances,” Campbell noted. “We are seeing a reduction.

“I am of the view, though, that there may be a number of unreported incidents. Usually people lose things and they just don’t report it, but those that are reported is definitely showing a reduction over last year,” he continued.

The superintendent noted that within his division a team of covert officers are deployed to the business community in an effort to curtail wrongdoing.

“The uniform presence is good, yes, but by and large they (criminals) watch them (uniformed officers) and they usually form a network around their presence and activities. So we would have increased our covert activities and that would have increased a number of our arrests,” he said.

But that is not a story that is bought by some of those in the downtown community, who claim that several of the robberies committed are not reported for various reasons, among them the perception that the police are helpless and hopeless in apprehending the thieves.

One merchant in the Parade area told the Sunday Observer that he reckons that an average of 15 people are robbed in the Parade area each day, with the numbers increasing on Fridays and Saturdays when more shoppers come out to take advantage of lower prices for items.

“The thieves are everywhere and the police are hopeless,” one merchant said. “While we do good business here, we would do far better business if more police were on the streets, whether in uniform or plain clothes, so that shoppers would feel safe.

Another merchant who, like the first, declined to be identified for fear of reprisal, bemoaned that things had got “loose” since the former area dons Donald “Zeeks” Phipps, and Christopher “Dudus” Coke were sent to prison in Jamaica and the United States, respectively.

Phipps, a former area leader of the People’s National Party stronghold West Kingston community of Matthew’s Lane, is serving a life sentence for murder. He had also been fingered in several other criminal activities which involved guns and drugs.

Coke, who for several years ran the Jamaica Labour Party-controlled garrisons of Tivoli Gardens, Denham Town and a section of Hannah Town as his own fiefdom, was extradited to the United States in 2010 and convicted to serve a 23-year prison sentence for his role in gunrunning and drug-trafficking activities in the United States and Jamaica.

But those who live and do business in the general areas of downtown Kingston will readily agree that some criminal activities could not occur when they ‘ruled’ their respective divisions.

“When Zeeks and Dudus dey a road, if a bwoy tief from any shopper or vendor, him a tek a chance wid him life,” one worker at a downtown establishment stated, earning nods of approval from others around her.

“Is one thing wid dem man dey,” another worker attached to the same company interjected. “Dem did keep the tiefing under tight control. Everybody coulda walk in peace and do dem business, because if you tief an Dudus or Zeeks know ’bout it, things a go happen to you. But all a dat done now. You have all kinda Don all over the place. Dem move Zeeks and Dudus and the police no put nutten in place. The police should a assert themselves now and tell the whole town that a dem in charge, but dat naa happen,” the worker said.

Yet another stepped outside the business place and pointed toward a group of policemen in the vicinity of Captain’s Bakery along Orange Street. “You see all a dem police stan’ up dey so, all dem a jus’ bus police. Dem harass the bus man and the taxi man dem, an’ a pure tiefing a gwaan next to dem an dem do nutten “bout it,” he said.

“Is just a fee-for-all. Whole heap a people rob an’ don’t even bother report it because dem say police naa do nutten ’bout it. You see all da lane dey, (pointing to Chancery Lane between Orange Street and King Street) … is pure tief up dey so. Some a dem tief from people an’ run up the lane go cool off, others just use the lane as dem base. Police know all a dem things dey, but nutten nuh change.

One victim of a recent robbery told the Sunday Observer that an item of jewellery was yanked from him by a teenager, who darted up Chancery Lane and ran into an old building.

“You dare not run offa dem bwoy up the lane because all a dem who siddung-pon the corner ago attack you,” the victim said. The police can definitely do more. Consumers are victims of an ongoing series of crimes that can be stopped if the people who should be securing the nation play their part,” he said.