Falmouth, Trelawny – A former hustler from Falmouth, who said the police used to lock away touts on days when ships docked in the town’s port, is now singing the praises of a programme that transformed him into a trained guide. He is urging his peers in St James to sign up.

After the success seen in Falmouth, training sessions are to be rolled out as a way to curb harassment along the popular Jimmy Cliff Boulevard in Montego Bay.

The programme is offered through the tourism ministry via the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) with sessions done by Team Jamaica and individuals who have expertise in training tour guides.

Paul Davy, one of 10 participants in the Falmouth Guide Services, told the Jamaica Observer that the programme has put an end to the cat-and-mouse game he and others once engaged in with the police.

“We feel good about the fact that we can be in the streets and don’t have to be looking out for police. That aspect of it cut out. We are really grateful because we can be out there and feel a part of the system, out there in uniform, standing alongside the police and security officers in the community,” Davy said.

“There were situations before where when the ships come in they arrest us throughout the day until the ship leave. And this used to happen when certain ships come in dock. Not necessarily myself, but the guys in the street. After the ships leave after 5:00 pm, they would release them. And these were just guys who come in the town to do some freelance hustling and [offer] assistance such as we are doing now — walk tourists around town and show them bars, restaurants, and chill spots,” he added.

A senior cop from the Trelawny Police Division has rejected his claims.

“Nothing like that” was the lawman’s terse response when asked to comment on the issue.

Though there may be a difference of opinion about how touts have been dealt with in the past, there is agreement on the success of the training programme that can transform them into productive members of society.

“As the saying goes, it is not what you say but how you say it. And they really teach us how to go about interacting with various tourists. It helped because in our everyday interaction with tourists, moving around, you can see the feedback and the difference of how we interact with them and deal with them and how they receive us. Compared to how we used to do it before in the streets, it is a great deal of difference,” Dave said enthusiastically.

“So I would definitely encourage the Montego Bay folks to get on board. Get into the programme and help to highlight their community and highlight the local people and businesses in their community. It would be nice,” he added.

The two-week programme was originally launched in Falmouth in 2017. According to TPDCo Executive Director Wade Mars, they are close to getting the one for St James up and running.

“It’s really just for us to get the sign-off from the ministry, then we will implement,” he told Observer West.

They already know who they would like to train, but some are more open to the idea than others.

“In some instances, some of these individuals peddle cannabis and other recreational drugs to tourists. So it is really how you get them to modify their behaviour and understand that this is not acceptable and this is not part of the product that we are trying to promote. Definitely, if they are going to be part of the programme they can’t be peddling those sort of things,” Mars emphasised.

Superintendent Eron Samuels, head of operations at the St James Police Division, is looking forward to customer service training being provided to individuals now perceived as harassers and transforming their role in the tourism sector.

“We want to look if we can get IDs with QR codes. The tourists can always go and scan the QR codes and have all the information about the person, which would mean that the person is registered, Team Jamaica-trained, and ready to work within the tourism sector,” he said.

“We will offer our expertise and also we will be focusing on the actual policing. We have the police officers who are so trained working in the tourism sector coming from PSTEB [Public Safety Traffic Enforcement Branch], they will be working within the space, but hopefully, we intend to grow what you see there. We also intend to increase our bicycle patrol,” he added.

There are also plans to incorporate technology into policing the hip strip.

“We are looking to start in St James a drone programme so that we will be able to monitor from the Freeport station all the happenings on the hip strip in the township so that we can have better coverage in terms of what is taking place,” Samuels disclosed.

President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Robin Russell, who is also the general manager of Deja Resorts, one of the properties on the hip strip, welcomed the planned transformation of hustlers into formal tour guides.

“These are things we need to do to get people incorporated in tourism. Everybody can be a part of it when you train people correctly on how to engage tourists and they are able to make a livelihood out of it. Hopefully they will understand how to protect it and make it grow in the right way. Therefore, this is something I would endorse fully,” he said.