ON the third anniversary of the implementation of a zone of special operation (ZOSO) in Parade Gardens, also known as Southside, residents say the difference in the once murderous Kingston Central community is like night and day.

When the Jamaica Observer visited the community earlier this month, it was abuzz with activity. Children in bright blue uniforms were getting picked up from school, elderly residents relaxed on sidewalks, and on the corner of Mr Clark’s shop, a baby kicked excitedly at the Sunday Observer team from her car seat.

It wasn’t always like that.

“Before this, it was like a ghost town,” said Andrew Tai, a resident who grew up in Parade Gardens. “The [ZOSO] was a necessity, based on what was happening.”

In 2021, the community recorded 22 murders over 12 months, prompting the implementation of the security measure, which saw soldiers flooding the area and official barriers placed at specific points on certain roads.

“The ZOSO was implemented after we had a bad year; [there were] 22 murders and 20 shootings in the space — today [January 9, 2025] is the anniversary,” Superintendent Beresford Williams, who oversees Kingston Central, explained.

And, the residents remember those days all too well.

One man pointed to the crude barriers placed by residents at strategic points to block vehicular access.

“When those blockages weren’t there, you had a lot of crime, drive-by and shootings,” the elderly man explained.

It was the concrete structures blocking access to the community and inconveniencing unsuspecting motorists that drew the Sunday Observer to the community.

What the news team found were residents fiercely protective of their newfound peace.

“Thousands of people died without these barriers, so we don’t want them to be moved; we don’t want them moved at all,” a female resident said. “We don’t want them to move, before that we would protest.”

Many residents expressed the same sentiment, pledging strongly to protest if the barricades were taken away.

They insist that the restrictions only inconvenience those who wish to do harm and say motorists’ complaints about not being able to access roads are a non-issue.

“We are getting around; we have gotten used to where we enter and exit from. Yes, there are a lot of people who come in and didn’t know the road was blocked but [because of] the courtesy of the community with them, they understand very well; we direct them to where they can exit,” Southside resident Orlando Walters explained.

An elderly woman, Zilpha Lee, who has lived in the area for more than 50 years, reflected on the time prior to the ZOSO.

“It was bad, bad,” she said.

Lee was sitting outside her home watching students get picked up from school just metres from a pair of solid two-foot tall barriers.

Located between the barriers and the school is a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) checkpoint.

At that checkpoint, manned by JDF members, the sentiment was similar. They, too, say now Parade Gardens is a far cry from 22 murders a year.

“Since we have been here, there hasn’t been that much violence, but you know you’ll have a few fights, not much shooting,” one officer told us, while another added, “Occasionally we will have a domestic dispute but we don’t really have any gunfire like that.”

Tai attributed the shift to good police work and community partnership.

“We couldn’t tell when last we’ve heard an explosion down here, because all bad man haffi either take away themselves or they’ve gone to prison or lost their lives when they encountered the security forces.

“The team at Central Police Station and Gold Street, they did a tremendous job. Here it is now, you don’t see a ghost town,” Tai added.

Pointing to his god-daughter passing by on her way home from school, he said, “See? Kids can walk up and down on the street.”

Tai, a businessman, said the change is creating new economic opportunities as well.

“Downtown [Kingston] is coming back because I, too, am going to do a major investment in 2025. It is coming — we can have parties and people from outside coming in — Parade Gardens is the place to be,” Tai said proudly.

He said, too, that residents are firm that they will not let the area return to what it once was.

“Police promise us that it will never ever get back to this stage and I can see it,” he said. “The people who contribute to the problems are no longer around; the word is out, we have a very good security force and this commissioner doesn’t play around,” he said.

Despite their new reality, some of the residents said it is not yet time to remove the barriers.

“I don’t think we are ready yet, to unblock the community — we have gotten used to it and the community is really doing good. We are still in the phase of learning how to love each other,” Walters said.

There was one resident who felt differently, scorning the barriers which, she said, had not protected a relative when attackers rode by on a bicycle and killed him.

However, Superintendent Williams stressed that the transformation of the community is still a work in progress.

“It’s going to take a bit longer to get people to understand what normal living looks like and feels like, and to re-culture them through socialisation. And while we are doing that, you’d want some control over the space. I can’t speak to [removing them] in the near future. I hope, in due course, it will happen but I don’t see that we’re there yet,” said the lawman.