Crime is indeed on the decline, according to Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Stephen Dean who said walkabouts and collaborative efforts with those of the community have contributed significantly to that decrease.
Senior ACP Dean and a number of senior officials were on the ground yesterday with hopes of continuing to reduce the fear of crime while at the same time sending a stern warning to criminals in the Yellow Elder community.
“I can tell you we are not working in isolation. While people are saying we are not doing anything, these crime watchers want to see better and more confident and safe communities,” Senior ACP Dean said.
“I can tell you that based on the operations we have mounted over the past couple weeks we have been reaping great dividends and good results. We’ve been bringing some prolific offenders into custody. Persons are being arrested on a daily basis for drugs, murder, armed robbery you name it.”
Meantime, Superintendent in charge of the Southern Police Station Mark Barrett said despite the amount of challenges, he and his colleagues face they remain confident about the future.
“We have a number of challenges,” he said.
“One, we have young people who are involved in anti-social behavior, but because of increased presence of police in this community, we have seen a major reduction in those forms of criminality like shooting, stealing from vehicles and various forms of anti-social behaviour.”
Yellow Elder Neighbourhood Crime Watch President Klint Conyers joined the police to help with their efforts.
“Crime is not just the police’s problem,” Mr. Conyers said.
“It’s all of our problems. One of the most powerful ways of fighting crime is crime prevention. So if we can help and speak to the young males, we do on the daily basis.”
Meantime, longtime resident Francilda Cargill said she is certain most issues in her community also stem from drugs and that parents are the ones who need to have more of a hand in how their children are brought up.
“If your child brings something home that doesn’t belong to him, scold him,” she said.
“Scolding doesn’t kill anybody. Tell them to take it back.”
