Robert Buddan, Contributor
JAMAICA ENTERED its Festival/Independence celebration season
in June. Occasions like Independence should cause us to reassess,
each year, where we are as a country, and what we need to do to
get to where we want to be.
It is heartening to know, for instance, that murder declined
by 41 per cent this June compared to last June. The police say
this is due, among other things, to better cooperation between
police and citizens.
Any progress in trust and confidence in the relations between
the public and national institutions is good.
Crime and violence are the greatest concern of Jamaicans, and
the fact that the murder rate has regularly declined by 20 per
cent to 40 per cent per month since January is one of the best
news to celebrate at independence.
DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITY BUILDING
Independence works best when people have trust and confidence
in their national institutions.
According to the leading Caribbean researcher on crime and justice,
Professor Anthony Harriot of the Department of Government, the
solution is to change the way we do policing and invent new ways
to administer justice by making both more community-sensitive
and supportive of community peace building.
Tony Harriot believes the evidence for success is there. In 1998,
a community truce in Western Kingston was the primary cause of
a 50 per cent reduction of murders there.
He believes that community-based initiatives between people and
police can bring murders down by 40 per cent nationally, and more
effective policing could bring it down by another 12 to 15 per
cent, even if there are no short-term improvements in the economy.
In other words, it is within the power of the people in communities
and the police force to bring the murder rate down to half of
what it is. Improvements in the economy would be necessary to
sustain these efforts and will bring the murder rate down even
more.
From that proposition, I would go further to say we should, therefore,
broaden the model of community policing and extend it to other
areas of institutional life. There is a more general disconnect
between citizens and government agencies, political parties, the
business sector, and even the churches.
We should, therefore, aim to improve levels of peaceful voter
participation in national and internal party elections, size of
party membership, and participation in constituency management;
community-based shareholdership, lease ownership, and contracting
arrangements with government and private businesses; levels of
moral and social activism in churches, PTAs, Neighbourhood Watch
Committees, and peace management programmes.
HUMANITY OVER BRUTALITY
Other organisations can learn from the community-policing model,
which became mandatory training at all levels of the police since
1998. It seeks to emphasise professionalism, problem solving and
partnerships.
It has made many areas like Red Hills Road, Payne Land, and Grants
Pen less volatile and improved community-police relations.
The police from the Fletcher's Land community advise members
of the force to be respectful, tactful and tolerant when dealing
with the public.
This is good advice for all institutions that have presence throughout
our communities.
The police force, maligned for so long, could teach other institutions
much of what it has learned. Those organisations that often stress
police brutality should also admit to the other side of policing
- police humanity.
Democratic policing is humanising. In one police-citizens dialogue
in Fletcher's Land, citizens admitted that the police often performed
parenting roles and resolved issues without having to arrest anyone.
They intervene in disputes and counsel young people and adults.
They often warn persons guilty of petty offences first and make
arrests only if those persons repeat their illegal acts.
They sometimes provide parenting and counselling services even
when they are off duty. They encourage young people to take part
in sports and other socially healthy activities.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Political parties, also much maligned, can make a similar difference
in the communities. Parties need to practise more community-based
autonomy over centralised management.
The PNP's North West St. James Executive has now shown the way.
It has launched a humane community-building initiative by opening
a bank account for the relatives of five recently-slain persons
in Norwood.
But it also plans to open a skills training centre, a citizens'
advice bureau, a park, and a dispute resolution centre for the
community. This is exactly the kind of initiative that regional
and local party organisations can replicate across the island
in order to make parties a part of the communities in which they
have and owe their roots.
The business sector is often criticised for being aloof towards
the communities from which they profit. They don't have to be.
Our local chambers of commerce must replicate the initiative
of the American Chamber of Commerce that helped to transform Grants
Pen from a volatile area into what is now viewed as a model of
community policing. Chambers of commerce across the parishes should
do likewise.
International development agencies also make a difference. USAID
has funded a three-year inner-city development programme in Grants
Pen.
In fact, it says that the success of the programme has caused
the U.S. Congress to change its mind and allow USAID to work with
local police forces around the world, something U.S. law had prohibited.
The UNDP's Civic Dialogue programme is also commendable.
Communities themselves, especially garrison communities, are
criticised for encouraging and protecting gunmen. They, too, have
a responsibility to change and there is evidence of this happening.
Residents of March Pen Road, the police, civic groups, religious
organisations, and the Social Development Commission have worked
out a six-month programme to convert a new truce into a lasting
peace. Its initiatives include promoting unity, jobs, infrastructure,
better shelter, better relations with the police, and ending the
'garrison' stigma attached to the community.
MODELS FOR PARTNERSHIP
These developments invite more institutional partnerships if
the early successes are to be consolidated. The state, political
parties, trade unions, the Church, and business organisations
have the deepest and strongest historical roots in society.
They exist at national, regional, and local district levels.
They must borrow from the community-policing model to build trust
and confidence in our national institutions. Their philosophy
should be the same as that of community policing - building trust
and confidence through partnerships with citizens.
The methods should be similar - dialogue, collaboration, participation,
mutual respect.
The facilitators could be the same - USAID, UNDP's Civic Dialogue,
American Chamber of Commerce, the Dispute Resolution Foundation,
the Community Security Initiative, the Social Development Commission,
the Peace Management Initiative, the Jamaica Social Evaluation
Project (JASPEV) and its idea of a Charter of Collaboration that
brings many government agencies into the commitments.
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Models of development agree on some basics: the need for an integrated,
multi-sectoral, holistic approach; the importance of trust and
partnership between citizens and society's institutions; and the
necessity of integrating communities into national strategies
for development.
What we now need is the institutional depth to reach into the
communities in ways that meet these conditions and 'best practices'.
I am convinced that the community leadership exists. The true
test of a country's independence is the extent to which its people
can, through their own efforts, organise their lives and control
their destiny.
To achieve this, more of our institutional leaders in the communities
need to understand the essential lesson of the generation of leaders
who won independence, the lesson of self-help.
Robert Buddan is a lecturer in the department of government
at the University of the West Indies. Email robert.buddan@uwimona.edu.jm.
