PORT ANTONIO, Portland — The Portland police are appealing to residents who have seen homeless people engaged in indecent exposure on parish streets to come forward and provide statements.

It is not enough, the lawmen have stressed, to simply provide video evidence.

“In the past we have seen footage being circulated. It would seem, on the face of it, good evidence [but] without a person giving a statement [that] they were the recorder of the event we cannot take action,” said Superintendent of Police Lloyd Darby, who is in charge of Portland .

He was providing an update, during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the municipal corporation, on a recent case of indecent exposure brought against two people who live on the streets. A man and a woman, Darby said, were arrested on November 18 and taken before the court.

The police, Darby said, were able to build a case because they had set up surveillance and witnessed their illicit behaviour.

“Junior Leslie is still in custody and his next court date is January 10 whilst Belinda Harris was deemed fit to plea in her psychiatric evaluation and was charged $1,000 for indecent exposure. She is back on the streets. Mr Leslie is remanded at the Tower Street psychiatric department,” he said.

He said since then there have been reports that Harris has once again engaged in similar behaviour. It is for this incident that lawmen are hoping witnesses will come forward.

Like the police, health officials have expressed alarm about homeless individuals engaging in coitus on the parish’s streets.

“The health team is also concerned about many inappropriate sexual incidents involving our mentally ill persons who live on the street. Our mental health team for primary and secondary care collaborated with the police to have one of the offenders brought into custody, and treatment was administered. We are aware that the problem is not resolved and so we work towards rescheduling a date with the relevant stakeholders to plan and discuss the way forward,” said the parish’s Medical Officer for Health Dr Sharon Lewis.

Portland has long sought to find a way to cope with those who live on its streets. Various individuals and organisations routinely provide meals daily, and some sporadically access medical care. However, in most cases, efforts to get them into a rehabilitation centre for longer-term care have proved futile.

Superintendent Darby has once again called for a long-term plan.

“We need a holistic approach to their circumstance, to their illnesses. It is not just the police and the police action because we are guided by what the law permits us to do and we have to follow the processes,” he appealed. “I am willing and we are engaging in some other talks with some partners [to determine] how we can have a better fix to the problem of those who need help to get the help so that we don’t have occurrences of these incidents.”

He said one of the avenues to be pursued would mean convincing relatives of the homeless to take care of their mentally ill family members.

“Just as how they would have cared for them if they had a medical issue, they should care for them when they have a mental issue also,” Darby said.