'No more violence': Trench Town residents condemn police murders Police offers $1 million reward for information
published:
Sunday | May 25, 2008
Daraine LutonSunday Gleaner Reporter
RESIDENTS OF trench Town in south St Andrew, where two members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) were fatally gunned down on Friday, are not prepared to allow the ghastly incident to sour the relationship between them and the police, according to social activist Dr Henley Morgan.
"I was just talking to members of a gang and the leader told me that 'wi nah trade nuttin fi go back'," said Morgan yesterday. He has been spearheading a culture of renewal within the community.
He said that community leaders were adamant that children must continue to play in the street and were working to transform the community.
"What happened yesterday (Friday) was an aberration. I don't think citizens want to go back to where they were before," Morgan stated.
Left the area
The Sunday Gleaner further understands that the men involved in the shooting of the policemen have since left Trench Town as other gangs have condemned the attacks and have refused to provide cover for them.
On Friday, two policemen - Corporal Cornell Grant of the Denham Town Police Station and Corporal Delano Lawrence of the Admiral Town Police Station - were killed by gunmen as they patrolled sections of the Rema community in the St Andrew West Police Division. The policemen were ambushed and fatally shot by thugs while on foot patrol with two other colleagues. The death of the two lawmen brings to five the number of police murdered since the start of the year. Yesterday, the Police (Civilian Oversight) Authority (PCOA), which monitors the operations of the JCF and its auxiliaries, appealed to the society to condemn the recent acts of criminality that have left families in mourning.
Condemn shooting
"We call upon every Jamaican to condemn all acts of crime and violence. We further call for the public and the police to work together in combating those criminal elements in our society and return peace to our land," the PCOA said in a release on the weekend.
The PCOA's comments followed widespread condem-nation from the national security officials, including Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, Minister of National Security Colonel Trevor MacMillan, and Dr Peter Phillips, the opposition spokesman on national security.
Yesterday, Commissioner Lewin and crime boss Mark Shields issued public appeals for assistance in solving the murders. Both publicly gave out their mobile telephone numbers.
A $1 million reward has also been offered for information leading to the arrest of the policemen's killers.
When The Sunday Gleaner visited Trench Town yesterday, children played in the streets as usual. Adults congregated at various points on the road and seemingly moved along with their lives.
However, signs of the shooting remained. The police also said that they had found a trail of blood, which they believed was an indication that one of the policemen's attackers had been shot and injured.
Community development
Some Trench Town residents suggested that the main plank of crime-fighting efforts in inner-city communities, like the one in which they lived, must be community development.
"This is like an open prison and has been like this for decades - old houses, nothing proper for the people, and little opportunity," said a resident yesterday. "When people live in dem condition here, anything wi happen. Is lack of opportunities and depression why things like this happen."
