AMONG THE more imaginative recommendations of the Washington-based Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report on steps to address Jamaica's crime problem is that a model police station be built in the Grants Pen area, to serve as centre and symbol of community-based policing.
This is now to become a reality with initial USAID funding of $300 million; but even as we congratulate all concerned we caution that the decision as to where the model police station will be built should not become a political football and end in the match being blown off.
We understand that some nine sites are being considered and given the political fragmentation of the area, Delroy Chuck, Member of Parliament for North East St. Andrew, will have a crucial role to play in ensuring acceptance of the final decision when it is taken. This will call for diplomacy, fairness and firmness - all qualities which Mr. Chuck has displayed throughout his political career.
In launching the programme, Mrs. Sue Cobb, the US Ambassador to Jamaica, has invited the Jamaican private sector to participate in it. Perhaps some mechanism can be found, (development bonds, 'build and lease') to convince Jamaican entrepreneurs to invest in the concept on an ongoing basis, so that over time, there would be new police stations, properly designed and landscaped, in every parish capital.
Indeed, the new structures might house under one roof, in addition to police stations, a cluster of Government departments, including badly-needed new court rooms and municipal offices for tax collection and other functions. These would be town halls which, set in a town square, could become a distinctive feature of the Jamaica landscape.
The validation of the PERF projects rests on the psychological fact that in subtle ways a change of environment can bring about changes in human behaviour and human relationships. An older generation will recall the remarkable improvement in efficiency and staff morale which occurred when Pan-Jamaican Trust, under the foresighted leadership of Maurice Facey, introduced modern, high-rise office buildings to Kingston.
Concrete and steel are not enough by themselves but coupled with redesigned police motivation and training there can be a rebirth of trust and co-operation between constabulary and citizen, not only in Grants Pen but across the island.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
