TOUGH communities do not readily trust police personnel, but for one man, his method of doing his job earned him not just trust, but control of West Kingston while he served as commanding officer for the division.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer, head of the Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Steve McGregor, said during his time in the area that earned a bad rap as one of the most violent communities locally, he replaced an illegitimate don in a more structured way.

“These people looked for leadership. On any given day I’d see over 30 people who came to me for advice, and sometimes it was costly as I had to give them money, but I had control over the community,” he said. “I had to implement some unorthodox methods to manage even the Noise Abatement Act, and one way to control the communities was that I would let them know that any community with a high level of violence would not get dances.”

He added: “If there was a lull and they applied for a dance, where they would get up to 12:00 am in the weekdays, I would give them up to 1:00 am, and on weekends I would let them go up to 3:00 am. Now I have no authority, but I would do that and invariably if they can lure me to the dance as the commanding officer, that even further legitimised my role there.”

Subsequently, McGregor said he won their trust and confidence which resulted in members of the community responding positively to his directives.

“I became a household name and anything that happened they would say, I am going down to Mr McGregor, instead of saying they are going to one of their illegitimates,” he said.

Another approach, according to McGregor, was to attend community meetings and take a list of people who needed to see him for various reasons.

“When they came, and they did, I would talk to those who needed to be spoken to and take in who needed to be taken into custody. I had that control,” he said.

The tough-talking cop said that closeness he had with West Kingston is what he will use to catapult operations within the CSSB he now heads.

“The basic definition of community-based policing is policing with the consent of the people. It is that the people are part of any decision-making mechanism in place. Whatever strategy you are employing to police them, they are part of it. My stint is to get the commanding officers to be closer to the community so when things are happening they can be more preventative and proactive in what they are doing,” he pointed out.

In doing his job, the lawman said he lives by one personally coined phrase. “If in an honest, genuine and consistent way you influence the attitude of people, you will change their behaviour.”

— KIMBERLEY HIBBERT