Clarendon Neighbourhood Watch Council leads peace march
Published:Thursday | March 3, 2022 | 12:07 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writer
The Clarendon Neighbourhood Watch Council on Tuesday, Peace Day, gathered in the May Pen town centre to emphasise the message of non-violent conflict resolution.
Ryland Kerr, newly elected president of the council, said the activity was twofold – to cement the Peace Day message, as well as to introduce the newly elected body with the message that neighbourhood watch in the parish is still alive and well.
Since COVID-19, the group has been going through challenges with a slack-off in meetings, but with new committee members in place, he said the mission is to revitalise it.
The Neighbourhood Watch movement involves citizens and police working together to make communities safer.
DSP Owen Brown, head of the Clarendon Police Division Safety and Security Branch, in encouraging others to come on board with the neighbourhood watch movement, informed that a community without peace has little value as “when the community is safe, it means that your assets are going to increase, (the value of) your property will appreciate because there is peace in your community”.
“But understand this, the community that has crime and violence, the very property that you spend your money to buy, the price is going to go down.”
Brown used the opportunity to warn students with a tendency to use violent means to settle disputes in the town centre to desist.
He also warned parents to live exemplary lives by not playing out their differences violently in front of their children, as he said children emulate what they see.
Acknowledging that there will be times when issues arise, Brown stressed that the proper way to deal with them is “talk it out” without any violence.
“There is too much violence going on around the place. Violence in Russia, Ukraine, violence in the Middle East, let us stop it, man,” he urged as he implored Clarendonians to be the change-makers.