There should be no refuge for criminality - Grant

WESTERN BUREAU:

Acting Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant said criminals are being shielded in their communities by residents who knowingly provide them with information and escape routes, which not only make the job of the police very difficult, but also contribute to the escalation of crime, particularly in volatile communities.

"This is something that as a country and as a community, we cannot continue to ignore," Grant told a community forum at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday.

The forum, attended by women employed to the all-inclusive resort and members of the nearby Flanker community, was tagged 'Beating the Odds'.

"The big elephant in the room are the murders, the gun violence and the reality of it. What our analysis is showing is complicity on the part of communities. Complicity in the sense of how the criminals are protected, the signals they are sent when the police are approaching, the non-verbal communication between the criminals and residents of the communities," she stated.

Grant stressed that if residents do not cease and desist from the practice, there will be a high price to pay by all and sundry, with the biggest loser being the Jamaican State.

... We need all hands on deck, Grant urges

Novelette Grant, acting commissioner of police, is calling for a united front from all of Jamaica in order to stem the violence that is wreaking havoc across the country.

"We need all hands on deck to get us out of this cycle. We cannot continue to have persons who should know better telegraphing the movement of the police to these shameful, disgraceful and violent criminals who continue to plague our communities. There should be no refuge for criminality," she declared during a community forum at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday.

Grant also pointed to the cycle of violence against women, stating that this was something that every decent law-abiding Jamaican should hit out against.

CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

"Our society, for many years now, has been caught up in a cycle of violence which, unfortunately, has been perpetuated against our women. We find that many of our mothers, sisters and daughters have been the victims of beatings, physical abuse, battering, and so on. There is also the emotional abuse and the breakdown of everything that is decent within the homes," she said.

GOOD SUFFERS FOR BAD

Grant further pointed out that one of the unfortunate things resulting from this cycle of abuse is that there are usually repercussions where the good oftentimes suffer for the bad.

"What we will find is that this kind of violence transcends generations," Grant noted. "There are many cases where the abused woman then turns around and, unfortunately, will abuse her children. We are seeing too many of these cases on a daily basis."

She added, "From these broken homes and violent environments, you will find our young boys gradually graduating into gangs and our young girls finding their way onto the streets."

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com