Police seek community partnership to curb crime

“If everybody comes together and show the country there are people fighting for them, things can change,” says 17-year-old Joy Lake of the Barataria Police Youth Club as she prepared to participate in the All Boots on the Ground walk on Saturday morning.

Lake was just one of the many youths who gathered at the Queen’s Park Savannah to take part in the walk to Independence Square along Frederick Street, hosted by the Community-Oriented Policing Section (COPS) of the TTPS Port of Spain Division themed Walking for A Brighter Tomorrow.

Among those walking for change in their communities and for themselves were representatives of various police youth clubs, youth organisations and NGOs.

They included We Care, an organisation for the "hard of hearing" and deaf, Credo Foundation for Justice, the Gender Affairs Division of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Council of the Orisha of TT, the Aranguez North Cadets and police youths clubs such as TT Paramilitary, St Clair, Barataria, John John, Debe and more.

Joanne James, a former assistant commissioner of police and consultant with Project Grace (Gang Reduction and Community Empowerment) said the walk was a collaboration with the TTPS and Project Grace.

The US-funded programme has two main components – intelligence-led policing and investigations, and community engagement.

Their main focus on Saturday was aimed at problem solving and building partnerships.

“The Port of Spain Division COPS felt, because of the high incidents of crime, that they should come together with the community because, at the heart of community policing, is the partnership between the police and the community.

“This walk is a signal to all that there is a real partnership in Port of Spain and it is the community who signals to us what their concerns are.

“And I can tell you, it may not always be crime. It may be water, it may be wanton disposal of garbage, it may be the way in which they are profiled when they go for jobs, it may even be the inability to access certain services. So it's not just about crime. It is a total awareness that communities must come together and they must see the police as a partner to do so.”

James said the police and the community needed to work together to identify, prioritise and solve problems like crime, drugs, the fear of crime, physical and social disorder, and overall community decay to enhance the quality of life for communities.

She said they had to come together to say “enough is enough,” and effective stakeholder engagement and multi-sector support was necessary to do so. She said the police cannot and should not do it alone.

She said communities knew what their concerns were and should come together with support from the police, ministries, civil service and faith-based organisations to create strategies to solve those problems.

She pointed out the Besson Street police had several programmes for children and adults dealing with mentorship, parenting, peer pressure, conflict resolution, anger management and more.

Acting inspector of police Joel Brathwaite, former head of COPS, said such events were important because most crimes were being committed by youths and there was a problem with crime in schools.

“We don’t want to make this an event where we just walk and get some exercise. We want our voices to be heard, we want to show that solidarity, we want to show that unification of all these different entities.”

Joining the walk from Knox Street near City Hall, Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Alleyne said the initiative was a positive one and the city was happy to partner with COPS, the youths and Project Grace.

“We are really looking forward to doing more of these initiatives throughout the capital city, and playing the part that we can play in ensuring that our young people are properly guided, and that they are able to make a positive contribution to the development, not only of the capital city, but the wider TT.”

He said it was not the only activity the city would be collaborating on as meetings were scheduled with the police and other stakeholders to continue conversations on city and country development.

Asked about Christmas plans for capital city, Alleyne said there would continue to be tourist initiatives including craft markets at National Academy for the Performing Arts and the Brian Lara Promenade when cruise ships arrive.

He said there would be continued lighting of the promenade in collaboration with Udecott to encourage people to visit, recreate, and shop. And soon Christmas on the Square, a craft market for local craft and food artisans, would be set up in Woodford Square to conclude with a parang celebration.

In addition, he said a traffic plan was being developed and the City Police, TTPS and national security stakeholders were working on security arrangements for the city.

“Rest assured that the city is doing everything that it can with the resources available to us and with the resources that we could generate by a collaboration, to ensure that, not just for the Christmas season, but year round, we can ensure that citizens have a sense of safety and security in the city.”