John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
Kathleen Kennedy-Townsend (right) beside Dr. Rae Davis, president of the University of Technology (UTech), yesterday during a breakfast meeting at Lillian's Restaurant, located on the university campus. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
KATHLEEN KENNEDY Townsend, former assistant deputy attorney-general of the United States and lieutenant governor of Maryland, is recommending community policing as the most effective way of curtailing the crime and violence affecting Jamaica.
"What we have learned is that you can't fight crime just with police. You need to have a community who is willing to identify the (drug) dealers, willing to take care of the children, who is going to clean up the community to make it pretty, you need both the police and the community," she said yesterday. She was speaking at a breakfast meeting with the administration of the University of Technology (UTech), at Lillian's Restaurant which is located on campus.
Mrs. Kennedy Townsend, in her role as deputy assistant attorney general, established the Police Corps programme where more than 100,000 police personnel were placed into the communities. "We sent our Police Corp out for weekend in civilian clothes so that they would feel what it was like to be in the city and not be empowered, not to be strong, not to be in charge (and the citizens could in turn) see the police from the other side," she explained.
Mrs. Kennedy Townsend, who is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown's University School of Public Policy, said "without the feeling of violence (and) fear then it's hard for kids to learn, it's hard for businesses to invest and it's hard for people to say they want to stay in Jamaica." She pointed out that her friends think "Jamaica would be a fabulous investment opportunity, but for the crime problem."
IN THE TRENCHES
Dr. Carlton Davis, Cabinet Secretary, who was also present at the meeting, said, "We have to find a way to get her back and I will certainly have some discussion with the Minister of Security (Dr. Peter Phillips) to get her back ... to speak to some of these issues because you are not just talking about them from a book, you actually were in the trenches."
"Our problems are not unique, it's just that in a small island community, they (criminals) loom large ... With her kind of experience, it might be useful to talk to some of the rank and file (police) and policy makers."
