MONTEGO BAY, St James – When Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country’s first zone of special operations (ZOSO) five years ago in a section of Mount Salem, St James, in the wake of rising murders in the community, it triggered much tension among residents.

Among the memories indelibly etched in the mind of Winsome Barnes, president of the Mount Salem Community Development Committee (CDC) Benevolent Society, is the concerns residents initially raised over the restriction of their movement that they perceived they would have been confronted with as a result of the enhanced security measure that came into effect on Friday, September 1, 2017.

“There was just a sense of tension within the community because this was something new, this was something we knew nothing about so you know with anything new there was teething pain. Some persons did not have IDs [identification cards] to be able to move about so there was restriction of movement on one side of the community. We heard it [ZOSO] was coming but hearing of it and seeing it being done, persons were resistant,” she reflected.

“I can remember [the early days of the ZOSO] because Sunday, September 3 would have been a final for a corner league that was being played. We still played the corner league final because it was already planned,” she added.

But fast forward five years, the initial anxieties over the measure have been replaced by the physical and social transformation of the once crime- plagued community.

Murders have also been significantly reduced over this time, Barnes told the Jamaica Observer West.

“I can’t speak to the other domestic crime because I don’t have the statistics but I know that even for this year I don’t think there have been three murders that have been here,” Barnes said.

According to head of Police Area One Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Clifford Chambers, since the declaration of the ZOSO in Mount Salem, the police have recorded seven murders in the area, which he said is a significant drop in the killings in the community prior to the measure.

“For the first two plus years of the ZOSO, there was no crime but we have had seven murders since, which is way down to what is was prior to its inception,” the ACP told the Observer West on Wednesday.

Barnes attributes the reduction of murders to “a greater level of policing that is happening and also with that you have a greater mindset”.

“With some of the interventions that are going on, people move more freely within the space,” she argued.

National security minister and deputy prime minister, Dr Horace Chang, described Mount Salem’s ZOSO as a success story, noting that it has resulted in the construction of a new police station in the community, the upgrade of Mount Salem Primary and Infant School, among other infrastructural improvements.

The police station, which was built at a cost of $45 million with funding from the European Union, benefits some 9,050 residents in Mount Salem and surrounding communities.

Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and other participating agencies collaborated over the past five years to implement the raft of social intervention initiatives in the community.

“All agents have worked together and now we have a brand new police station which is equipped to maintain public order and reduce violence within that community with normal policing at this time. And the school is being physically upgraded and discussion is in place to ensure that we have a curriculum that ensures the children of Mount Salem will have a high-quality basic and primary education,” Dr Chang told the Observer West.

” From the reports I have from the residents it seems they are very happy with the situation, they are very supportive of the kind of intervention and it has done much more for them than previous activities in that area.”

Barnes concurred with the security minister.

“With ZOSO came a lot of structural improvements to the community. When it came we had the zinc fence removed, the primary school is now being upgraded, the roads and everything within the ZOSO region of the community were upgraded,” she said.

Barnes highlighted that there has been a lot of capacity-building in the community since the introduction of ZOSO.

She stated that a number of State agencies “took a greater part in what was happening in the community”.

“So you had HEART, you had Parenting Commission, you had SDC [Social Development Commission], you had other entities that came in and gave greater strength to what JSIF was doing,” Barnes noted.

She, however, expressed disappointment that more youths did not make use of the opportunities provided by HEART.

“HEART was going through the community. A lot of stuff that was being advertised but a lot of the young persons within the community did not gravitate to what they were offering. But then again, I would have to say we are going back to the drawing board and asking what it is you would like to do. And some persons still do not know,” Barnes said.

The security minister also noted that the Mount Salem’s ZOSO has provided a good model for the six others that have since been declared.

He, however, indicated that the ZOSO in Mount Salem is coming to an end.

“We have indicated that it has reached a stage that can leave them [residents] to normal activities but the build phase is near completion. We fix the schools, the titles are coming for some of them who were living in informal settlements and all that but we have to complete that process of really making it a vibrant dynamic community where individuals continue to live, work and raise their families and even retire in peace,” the security minister said.

“It’s a good model for intervention but we do need another tool that will cover a broader area from time to time.”