POLICE LEADING TRANSFORMATION IN TROUBLED ST ANN COMMUNITY
Efforts are being made to move Parry Town, near Ocho Rios, from being regarded as a policing hot spot to being a safe community.
(DSP Rochelle McGibbon-Scott listens as a resident addresses the session)
Residents of Parry town, one of the oldest and once peaceful settlements around Ocho Rios, St Ann are being encouraged to reduce conflicts and settle them without violence in their community.
On Sunday, January 14, police led by DSP Rochelle McGibbon-Scott, held a community meeting where residents were sensitized about the Parry Town Community Intervention Programme (CIP).
DSP McGibbon Scott is Zone 2 Commander in St Ann, responsible for Ocho Rios, Moneague and Claremont.
Inspectors Christopher Faulkner, Inspector Arlene Baker Battiste and Det Sgt Damian Laing will assist her with the initiative.
Part of the team at the sensitization for the Community Intervention Programme in Parry Town included Detective Corporal Denzel Brooks and Constable Franklyn Palmer
Also in attendance was the councillor for Beecher Town Division, which includes Parry Town, Ian Bell. Councillor Bell supported the initiative and spoke about the need for partnership.
More than fifty residents of Parry Town were in attendance.
The citizens received and endorsed the initiative.
The CIP is to be launched at a later date.
However, a committee established at the meeting will now go through proposals to include social interventions such as football and domino competitions, setting up a crime prevention panel and responding to the social ills of the community through a social services fair.
DSP McGibbon Scott told the North Coast Times that the main aim is to get people involved and for the community “to own a transformation” that moves Parry Town from being a hot spot for policing to a safe space.
Det Cpl Brooks did a Crime analysis presentation for 2023 for the space and encouraged the citizens to continue to do well. He pointed out that no murder was committed in Parry Town in 2023.
(Councillor Ian Bell interacts with a resident)
Cons Palmer from the Community Safety Branch made a presentation on safety and highlighted the benefits of the Police Youth Club movement.
In recent years, Parry Town was plagued with gang violence. It came on the back of an expansion of informal settlements with poor social services and infrastructure and attendant issues of security. Parry Town became known as one of St. Ann’s crime hotspot and was the home to several persons of interest to the police, and violence producers.
NO MORE TEACH GANG
Police say this community was previously the home of the “Teach Gang” which was led by Orlando Chambers otherwise called “Teacher” who is now deceased. “The gang activity caused several murders and other criminal activities across the community. The Police responded with a ‘Crime Hot Spot’ style of policing model. This included several robust operational activities, hot spot patrols as also the non-issuance of permits under the Noise Abatement Act,” police said.
Efforts by the police and citizens over the years have significantly reduced the level of violence that once crippled the community. Police say the Teach gang has been disrupted and no other known established gang is operating in the community.
There are, however, still “persons of interest” (to the police) living in the community. In the context of what has been happening in Parry Town over the years, and the gains made in security, police say there is now need for the community to regain normality. This would include the approval by police of social events and other community interactions.
DSP McGibbon-Scott said however, that returning to normality is not a quick fix. It requires a systematic unfolding of events that will see community members “owning” their community and by extension protecting it from all illegal or unethical activities by criminals.
She says the CIP will involve the people and bring social services and activities to help bring Parry Town to what it once was.
