Senior cop wants end to stigma against Westmoreland youth
Published:Tuesday | March 1, 2022 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Private-sector interests have been urged to end the discrimination against poor youth living in Westmoreland’s squatter settlements.
The call has been made by Senior Superintendent of Police Robert Gordon, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, who has acknowledged that many young people have been refused employment because of stigmatised communities.
“For those of you who run businesses, do not make the address of any of these young men be the determining factor for not employing them,” Gordon said.
He gave that warning during a divisional worship service and appreciation awards ceremony held at the Torrington Wesleyan Holiness Church on Sunday.
“As a matter of fact, those are the ones that you should employ, (because) all they need is guidance,” the senior police officer declared. “They are good boys and good girls, and I tell you if it was not for the good people in Westmoreland, the situation would have been worse.”
As at February 19, police crime statistics for Westmoreland show that 20 people have been murdered in the division, including three double homicides, since the start of the year.
That represents an increase of 12 murders, or a 150 per cent rise, when compared with the corresponding period in 2021.
Meanwhile, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce, Moses Chybar, endorsed the need for business owners to open their doors and provide employment to people from these communities.
He also supports the call to end discrimination and labelling communities as inner cities or squatter settlements.
According to Chybar, southern Savanna-la-Mar, where a section has been declared a zone of special operations (ZOSO), is home to some of the finest people in the parish.
“They are persons with ambition, who are hungry for opportunities,” he said.
“Good and clean-minded people are living inside these communities, (people) who are just yearning for somebody to talk to them, to let them know that we are all equal,” Chybar told The Gleaner in an interview.
He acknowledged that while business owners are willing to provide employment, many of them are afraid, largely because of the pictures that have been painted of persons who live in these communities.
“I know a lot of people from these communities. In my company, we hire them, they are hard-working individuals,” Chybar said.
“We have to start looking at how we can start to engage some of these people by providing employment.”