A riveting testimony by an ex-convict who calls himself ‘Fire Heat’ turned up the temperature on an already steamy Friday night, as the police pushed to deter individuals from going the criminal route in one St Andrew community.

Fire Heat, who said he spent several years in prison, having gone there at age 17 for committing a murder that he styled as being done in ‘self-defence’, glued scores in the community of Seivwright Gardens, known popularly as Cockburn Pen and Cockburn Gardens, by encouraging the youth in particular to do everything to stay away from prison.

The music-rich event, chaired by evangelist and Constable Moesha Allen, and spiced with deep gospel ingredients in concert style, is the brainchild of outgoing deputy superintendent of police in the St Andrew South Division, Coleridge Minto, and other personnel in the constabulary.

It marked the fourth staging of such a function, and judging from the cheers that punctuated the atmosphere after each presentation, the activities were warmly received.

“It took the three years before the sunlight touch me natural skin; and me still couldn’t even write mi name,” Fire Heat said as he took the microphone to address the enthusiastic gathering of hundreds.

“They say I must die four times. You know Prison Oval where them play football, just across the wall they have the cemetery where they hang you. I was told to die four times. The box [coffin] did mek and the hole dig.

“But there is a man — Jesus — Hallelujah, that is the greatest man. You have some man wey nuh believe in a God, but God real. I had four subjects, I was taught by the Holy Spirit to read and write, at the age of 23 and I became a Christian in prison. I said to God if you help me to read and write I will serve you for the rest of my life, so I owe God. I came off death row, went to Gun Court and put myself in school where I sat five subjects in JSC [Jamaica School Certificate Examination] and passed four. I became an evangelist in prison, I patched up relationships, and made some free,” Fire Heat told the crowd, which by then had reduced private discussions that were previously competing with what was happening on the main stage.

“After I came off death row I told myself I needed help. I write to everybody around the world. The last person I wrote was The Queen. Inna prison you have intelligent dunce, man look pan you and tell you all type a rubbish — like God a white man.

“A man tell me say I can’t write The Queen and when I write The Queen, she sent to the governor general to release me immediately and I was released from prison in 2001.

“I am now 57 and never had a dull moment. Everything me have a God gi mi,” he said, holding a certificate which bore the governor general’s seal.

“I am telling all the man dem who say them a shotta … bossy, prison life nuh easy. It’s the worst place you can think of. You have six and seven man inna one cell. A dey so me grow, so me know everything. A 2001 me start life and me nuh short a nothing. God give me two beautiful daughters and just the other day mi have mi bouncing son name Michael.

“Whether you believe it or not I have two trophies in JCDC [competitions], I have a certificate in Tastee competition,” he added, before bursting into singing some catchy songs, among them the popular chorus of ‘The shooting and the killing must be over all over this world’.

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams, who attended the event from dusk into late evening, hailed the police for coming up with the idea, and pledged his continued support for the initiative.

“It is commendable. It is a police initiative, even though all of us collaborate and make it happen. Community interventions like this are always significant into addressing issues in the communities,” Williams told the Jamaica Observer.

“It’s various aspects of the police force coming together and interacting with community members. The police moves around, socialise, build relationships. As councillors, I find that when we are far more active as elected representatives, we impact community life in a greater way. We are called upon before things happen, we are asked to intervene and we are far more informed.

“The police could certainly learn a lot more, get more information, which could prevent things happening. You are able to intervene before a murder is committed. I have been able to intervene in a lot of situations before they get out of hand. The residents of other areas are calling for it,” said Williams, who is councillor for the Seivwright Gardens Division in the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

Deputy Superintendent Minto was pleased with the community support, revealing that it was the fourth such initiative in communities deemed by the police to be volatile, and although he will be leaving the St Andrew South Division soon to take up an assignment in St Elizabeth, he is happy that things have gone to plan, and will continue to flourish even in his absence.

“The management of the St Andrew South Division would have developed several intervention strategies. One of the community intervention strategy we are using is music, and particularly gospel music. We have so far done four of these events. The first one was in Tavares Gardens — Payne Land; the second one was Majestic Gardens, we were in the Waterhouse space, and tonight we are in the Cockburn Pen,” Minto told the Sunday Observer in an interview.

“It is supported by several stakeholders. The mayor has supported us, including with sound and lighting that is here, so we are grateful. We have the Jamaica Fire Brigade, members of the JCF, Akeem Nugent, and a number of other stakeholders who partner with us, including the Church community.

“There are hundreds of persons gathered here who want peace in their community. Bringing the police closer to the citizens, working with them, so that we can have safer communities,” he said.

Of the venues, Minto said at all of them, the citizens had asked the police to return.

“There are 20 communities which the strategy will be rolled out into and those that we have visited want more of these. In fact, when we visited Waterhouse, the people asked us to return the following week,” Minto said.

Head of the St Andrew South Police, Superintendent Damion Manderson, lauded those involved in the project, as well as the residents who turned out to be a part of it.

“Looking at the respective communities and the challenges that we face, looking at the history of the community and what exists and is prevailing now, we thought about how can we get the communities together.

“This initiative is part of the broader scope of community intervention — police and stakeholder engagement — how do we get the citizens to take their security serious and to be a part of the security apparatus in a positive way?

“This is one of the main initiatives of the plethora that we have. We have weekly walk-through, widely publicised meetings, we walk the communities, knock on doors, introducing ourselves as the commanders and police officers.

“It was conceptualised under the intent that music is one of the binding factors to bring our young people together. When you look across St Andrew South, numerous people have emerged, whether it is outstanding artistes in gospel, reggae or anything — they have some roots in St Andrew South — Waterhouse, Olympic Way, Seaview [Gardens], you name it. So we thought that music would be the binding factor. The police, JPs, Restorative Justice, CDC, the MP, councillors … everybody got involved and we would have met over various months and conceptualise what we have,” Manderson said.

He reiterated that the Police meant far more than arresting men, kicking off doors and turning up at crime scenes.

“They are seeing a different side of the police. They recognise that we are their friends, we want to talk with them, work with them to make a better community and we have been getting that,” Manderson said of the existing initiatives.

Other police personnel appealed to the hundreds present to walk the straight path. Among them were Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Steve McGregor from Police Area Four, under which St Andrew South falls; Deputy Superintendent Rohan, the operations officer for St Andrew South, and Inspector Novelette Walker, sub-officer in charge of community safety and security.

McGregor implored the people of the community to maintain high ideals which will inject pride into their lives. He called for the police to be fully supported, as controlling crime was the business of everyone.

Ritchie, known widely as “Law and Order”, pointed out that normally when you see two police vehicles parked side by side blocking off an area, 90 per cent of the time it is usually a crime scene. “But this occasion is different,” he told the community folk. “The vehicles are parked side by side, but it’s all about community partnerships and community building,” he said to cheers.