JCF trains 25 as curfew monitors
TWENTY-FIVE residents from the St James Police Division were last week trained as youth curfew monitors at the Holiday Inn in St James.
The training forms part of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB) mandate of making safe communities.
The training follows a 9:00 pm curfew imposed by the St James Police for students ages 17 years and under in an effort to prevent them from engaging in criminal activities.
Senior Superintendent of Police Stephen McGregor, at the time the curfew was imposed in 2016, said the police were concerned that criminals had been preying on the vulnerability of many young children, luring them into illegal activities and turning their minds against wanting to go to school.
The curfew programme is one of six pillars that will form the foundation in making St James communities safe.
The other five are a consultative committee made up of citizens from the community; the formation of youth clubs; making the schools in the area safe schools; a mentorship programme for the youths of the area; and an active neighbourhood watch group.
McGregor noted yesterday that when these six pillars are fully implemented, the police will ensure that they are consistent. They will be headed by community safety officers of the division.
“We have started with three communities in St James — Mount Salem, Barrett Town and Bogue Hill. All the other parishes kicked off with one community each, but St James started with three because of the seriousness attached to the parish and this effort being a part of the new strategic plan for St James being undertaken by [Deputy Commissioner of Police] Clifford Blake,” McGregor said, adding that it is also the aim of the CSSB to make all the communities that are impacted by the Zones of Special Operations safe communities after the zones are lifted.
“The general aim is to get closer to where the disputes are taking place that are leading to the murders. These pillars will offer the opportunity to defuse them before they result in murders. This also reinforces the needed partnership between the communities and the police,” he said.
