“Duhaney Park hot!” Many residents have uttered those same three words, convinced that the State of Public Emergency (SOE) instituted in the St Andrew South Division last Sunday was long overdue.

Residents pointed to a series of events over the course of the last three weeks in the community which have forced them to subscribe to a strict “work-to-yard” lifestyle, as gunshots have become an unwelcome nightly feature.

Three weeks ago residents peered through windows nervously when they saw a car go up in flames after being lit by men.

According to a police source, armed thugs residing in the community visited the home of a man suspected to also be a crime player and demanded that he come out and face them. When the man refused to do so, the thugs smashed his car windshield with a rock, poured gasoline inside, and set in on fire.

Senior communications strategist at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Dennis Brooks told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview that: “In St Andrew South murder is up 14 per cent, shooting is up four per cent, but all other crimes are down significantly. The major crimes in general are down 10 per cent.”

In 2020 there were 129 murders, 141 shootings, and 140 injuries recorded in the division as at November 13. This year, the numbers are 150, 145 and 150, respectively.

Superintendent Damion Manderson, who was recently reassigned to St Andrew South, is currently the acting commanding officer for the police division. Manderson told the Sunday Observer that the police had no leads as it relates to the recent flare-up.

“Currently, there is no information to say who, what, where, how, and stuff like that. I know there are a series of incidents, especially over the past two weeks or more. Some, we suspect, are related and others are totally isolated from the others,” said Manderson.

On Saturday, October 23, a man’s head was delivered to his family on Sherlock Crescent in the community in a box. The man, identified as 41-year-old Sherrod “Yannie” Holness, was wanted for questioning by the police in connection with a number of serious crimes.

It is believed that he was killed in Spanish Town, St Catherine, decapitated, and his head then placed in a box and left in a space outside the apartment complex in which his family lives on Sherlock Crescent.

Manderson said there have been no developments in the case.

“The person was actually not living in the area. Two, based on what we’re getting from our partners in other divisions, this person was killed outside of the division and his head brought back there because that’s an area where he usually hangs out, and at one point lived there,” he said.

A woman claiming to be Holness’s babymother addressed the beheading on an Instagram live recently. The woman is currently living outside Jamaica.

“Spanish Town boy dem, when dem get money, dem do anything when dem hungry and a hungry time a Jamaica now. People a pay people fi kill people. The hit come from USA. Dem send one million dollar — when that coulda send fi buy some car and fix up dem community; no! — dem send it fi kill one likkle mawga man weh nah do dem nothing. Mi nah stop mourn ova mi Yannie till mi dead. Mi nuh care weh people waan seh bout him,” the woman lamented.

Speaking on the beheading during a virtual press conference last Sunday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said: “We only see these kinds of actions happening in war zones.”

He added: “We’re seeing an increase in murders, but we’re also seeing a new trend of savagery and barbarity in the violence.”

On October 7, five-year-old girl Denique Salmon was murdered while she slept at her home in New Haven about 1:00 am. Police reported that the incident was as a result of a shoot-out between gunmen, which was the latest in a series of attacks taking place between gangs.

Residents have told the Sunday Observer that following all these happenings they are living in fear.

Manderson said: “If they are fearful, then they have reason to be fearful. As a police officer, being exposed to crime and violence in different areas, it might become somewhat numbing or the norm to see that, but for somebody else, it’s not the norm. So I can’t deny the fear factor if it exists.

“But what we have been doing, as a policing body, is that we continue our intervention activities within that space; we continue to have walk-throughs, we continue to have our patrols and our community safety and security team is actively involved in that space. In fact, even as we speak, the deployment is very heavy — from mobile to foot patrol.”

These activities, he said, are to primarily reassure residents of their safety and to deter acts of crime.

“We appreciate that there is some level of discomfort, and reasonably so, but it’s nothing that we can’t treat with. It is nothing that we can’t treat with together. I chose my words carefully and deliberately by saying ‘together’ because oftentimes this crime situation is viewed by many as something that falls in the lap of the police or is [caused by] the absence of policing.

“But the fact of the matter is, as I would often say to persons who keep referencing elsewhere, that the only reason why in some other quarters there’s such an apparent level of success… it’s not solely because of the policing apparatus that exists there. The percentage of that is so minimal. It is primar[ily] because the citizens decide that they don’t want this, that they don’t want crime and violence, they don’t want to be run by mafias, they don’t want to be run by gangsters.”

Brooks added that the Duhaney Park Police Station serves a broader area outside the community of Duhaney Park.

“There are several communities that are served by the Duhaney Park Police Station. People often think that because the station is named after the community, the station serves that community alone. No. It is one of the main stations in the St Andrew South Division, and the division is a big and a busy division. It is traditionally one where a lot of the country’s violence is from,” he reasoned.

He told the Sunday Observer that the Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB), which he referred to as “the other side of policing” is a valuable tool.

“The school visits, the church visits, the youth club meetings, there are so many different CSSB interventions that you can look at.”

Manderson also stressed that residents have to work in tandem with the security forces.

“When you watch the news and they note that within five hours after a killing the police are able to nab John Brown, who is hiding somewhere, it’s not because the police have any telescopic or satellites somewhere that is viewing and can see everybody. In fact, the satellites are the citizens. The citizens who care about their communities and willing to talk to the police.”

Meanwhile, he told the Sunday Observer that there are some “questionable” police officers that people will find untrustworthy.

“I’m sure there are. And are there similar police officers in other jurisdictions? Of course, there are. But there are mediums that are set up and there are individuals as well who can be trusted. My position is always let’s work together so we can rid the organisation and the country of the crime and violence. It’s not enough to sit back and say that we’re overtaken by crime. That’s not enough. We must do something. If you see something, say something. If you hear something, say something. That’s the main way by which we get information upon which to act to keep our communities safe,” he said.