The latest appeal for residents to work with the police in a bid to reduce crime in the country was delivered through the video recording of a song which has since gone viral on social media.

In the video, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Throyville Haughton encourages residents to “chat pon the criminals” whom he said have, for a long time, crippled the country with violence.

Over 1,300 murders were committed in 2019, some 1,200 shootings recorded, over 450 reported rapes and approximately 350 aggravated assaults tallied.

“Mi a go deejay ’bout a thing weh everybody ‘fraid a, as far as mi know long as mi memba. If you born and grow up inna Jamaica yuh nuh waah nobody call yuh nuh informa but yuh see me, very proud informa. Mi naah dweet for myself but for Jamaica, informa wi affi make the sacrifice fi make the place safer,” the 35-year-old Portland-based police belted in the one and a half minute-long video, first shared to the Portland police’s Facebook page.

In an interview with the Jamaica Observer North & East last week, Haughton said the video was recorded to challenge the negative narrative associated with sharing information with the police.

For Haughton, subscribing to the ‘informa culture,’ which advocates for the death of persons who cooperate with the police, is “destructive”.

According to the DSP, it simply serves to continue the hurt and widespread suffering already being endured by residents across communities.

“It reflects a level of hypocrisy as well because criminals are saying an informa should die, however, anybody comes to them and gives them information so that they can go and hurt people that person is also an informa. They don’t see anything wrong with the person coming to feed them information but they see something wrong with somebody telling the police something so that justice can be served; so that peace can be maintained. Nothing is wrong with informing or being an informa unless the purpose for which you are doing it is destructive,” Haughton stated.

The lawmen said while the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) continues to face issues in regards to confidentiality, a matter which, he insists, plagues most organisations, there are many avenues for people to share information without having to identify themselves.

“The JCF has been preaching this forever, from I was born I’m hearing this thing — ‘don’t hide it tell it; solving crime pays’. We pay money to people which should not even be the case where you pay for information because we should get to the point of responsibility as a nation where we look out for each other and care about each other but for some reason we’ve allowed this ‘informa fi dead’ thing to just go unchallenged,” he stressed.

Haughton said while there are many mediums available to project the different messages from the JCF, he felt it was best to deliver his message through a song “because music is very powerful”.

He said while participating in a neighbourhood watch meeting in Portland last year, he observed the lengths residents went to to avoid mentioning the term informa or outright sharing information.

That is when the cop decided that he would begin addressing the matter.

“The response [to the video] has been overwhelming. It is much bigger than I ever thought it would be because when Sergeant Delrose Green Smith walked, into the office it was New Years Eve and she was like ‘OK, what is it that we want to be telling Portland?’ I don’t know why she did it but she just came in and was running the video. Usually I would not say anything but then I just said that we were happy for the support that we were getting, especially in Portland.

“We did a community concert in November. I did some songs there and the feedback was very good. All the comments were very good. So we were just saying thanks to the people so she said ‘since you’re the lyricist just give us one of your lyrics’. When she said that, because I’m so passionate about this informa thing, I just decided that I’m going to give her a verse from an informa song that I made,” Haughton shared.

He said since the video was published online, he has received scores of telephone calls from individuals overseas including from Bermuda, Canada, England and the United States.

“Just about everybody had it on their lips and what I realised is that persons were waiting for this type of conversation to start where people can celebrate talking about wrong, calling out wrong for what it is and just celebrating freedom and peace. Change the conversation and let’s look at it from a more critical perspective and realise that what we are doing is supporting destruction. We don’t want to see persons ignoring crime and criminal activities as if it’s a fashion or something to be proud of. If you see something and you don’t say anything you should be ashamed of yourself,” said Haughton.

The DSP said with the start of a new year and with many making new year resolutions, the national resolution ought to be ‘informa for life’.

“I’m going to talk and live. I’m going to talk and let somebody else live,” he said.