Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
Jamaica College students being searched by the police at the Matilda's Corner Police Station after being taken off a JUTC bus for misbehaving recently. - Norman Grindley/ Deputy Chief Photographer
WHILE MOST students take books, pens and geometry sets to school, some teenagers pack their guns with them. And although teachers and students are aware of it, they are afraid to report the perpetrators to the police because they are fearful for their lives.
"We are getting a few reports that quite a number of students, especially in the volatile areas, are carrying guns to school," said Ruel Reid, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).
"Teachers and students are so vulnerable; they pretend that they do not know about it," he added.
Norman Heywood, Detective Superintendent of Police in charge of the police component of the Safe Schools Programme, confirmed Mr. Reid's concern that students are indeed taking guns to school.
According to DSP Heywood, a security survey that was conducted in schools that are part of the Safe Schools Programme, during September and December of last year, revealed that four guns were seized in schools. The guns included two nine-millimetre
pistols, one .38 revolver and one home-made gun. More guns have been seized since then, but the police are still tallying the figures before they are released.
DSP Heywood said teachers do not have to be fearful to report students who are carrying guns to school as they can discretely inform the police, who would then carry out their investigations and confiscate the weapons. He noted that the police have managed to seize three guns in that way.
The police Safe Schools coordinator told The Sunday Gleaner last week that the survey also revealed that there were nine gangs operating in secondary schools that are a part of the Safe Schools Programme.
He noted, however, that there could be more gangs in other schools, as only 112 schools are on the programme with only 80 having police school resource officers (SROs). There are 1,002 public schools in the island.
The Safe Schools Programme was introduced in schools
last September and is aimed at reducing the incidence of
violence. It is a collaborative effort between the Education, Health and National Security Ministries, along with other non-governmental agencies.
DSP Heywood said that since the inception of the programme, the SROs have managed to dismantle four of the gangs while some of the members were either expelled or graduated from school. He also noted that the presence of the police in these schools has lessened the activities of gang members.
Dorrett Campbell, director of communications in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, corroborated that since the inauguration of the Safe Schools Programme, the presence of gangs is being diffused in schools.
Contrary to popular belief that gangs only exist in inner-city schools, DSP Heywood noted that they were also found in traditional high schools.
DSP Heywood also admitted that there was illegal gambling, the selling of drugs and other contraband activities in schools. He, however, pointed out that these illegal activities were not usually gang-related but were being done by individual students.
The survey also revealed that six schools, primarily in the inner-city areas, were affected by extortion by students. DSP Heywood cited a case whereby students in one school had to pay in order to use the bathroom.
The coordinator said that some students extort for money while others form gangs in order to protect themselves.
DSP Heywood related that there are frequent gang wars in schools where one group fight against the other, but noted that there is no evidence that they are politically related.
"It's more of a macho image there are gangs calling themselves Dutty Man crew and Worm Crew. But the names that they take on are names from rappers, gangster movies and video games," he said.
According to DSP Heywood, once the formation of a gang comes to the attention of the police, they try to monitor them and introduce early intervention strategies and let students know that there are other alternatives to joining gangs.
Asked if the gangs are extensions of community based gangs, DSP Heywood told The Sunday Gleaner that two of the gangs are of that nature, based on the fact that they called themselves the names of the larger gangs operating within the communities.
"We don't have any evidence that they are being armed by the community members but we know that based on the prevalence of guns, 14 and 15 year-olds can acquire guns," he said.
