Alexandria police showing how it’s done
Published:Friday | November 26, 2021 | 8:26 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Residents and the business sector served by the Alexandria Police Station in St Ann have been benefiting from an increased police presence in the form of community outreach programmes.
The programmes, such as police youth clubs and church and other social visits, including the installation of several closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), have seen serious crimes drop from double to single digit over the past two or so years.
Sub-officer in charge of the station, Sgt Ricardo Beckford, aided by his team of officers, have been receiving commendations about the improved sense of security being enjoyed by the citizens.
“Since 2018 when I took over this police area, we have been working closely with the community to ensure that the police provide the best service to the community,” Beckford explained.
“We tried all sorts of community integration programmes – we started three police youth clubs, we reached out to the youth and invited persons to come in to assist them in getting to a level where they can provide some amount of positive contribution to society, and coupled with that, we have been going out to the churches, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
These visits to the churches include officers and youth club members. The team also visits the elderly and shut-ins, at times donating food packages.
A spate of robberies and break-ins forced the police to consider installing CCTVs. Supported by the community, the police held several fundraising events to garner funds to purchase and install six cameras, with plans afoot to add more when funds become available.
“Since the system has been in place, we have seen some amount of success. We have solved a couple of major crime, including murder, so we have been reaping success,” Beckford revealed.
“In line with the commissioner’s strategic priorities, policing through technology, we’re enhancing our security services with the use of technology. We have also instituted a WhatsApp line as we try our best to reach out to the community.”
SPURRED TO ACTION
Beckford said when he was put in charge of the Alexandria Police Station in 2018, he arrived to a slew of negative comments, and this spurred him into action.
“Prior to coming here, Alexandria was experiencing double-digit crimes for the year, and since I’ve been here, my team and I have managed to get it down to single digit.
Businessman Howard Williamson is one person who has seen the change for the better in Alexandria and is aware of the efforts by the police, which he acknowledged is bearing fruits.
“It has definitely had a positive impact because as a business owner in these times, you can hardly sleep at nights, worrying about safety in terms of the robberies,” Williamson told The Gleaner.
“Robbery in Jamaica on a whole is just overwhelming, so we appreciate any additional incentive that can help. To be honest, since that inclusion we have seen some improvement.”
“It’s something that we support all the way. Initially, we came together and held a few functions to help raise some funds. It’s never enough, but we raised a little and we started something, so if some more cameras can be added, it would be a win-win situation,” Williamson stated.
In the meantime, Supt David A. Whyte, acting commander for St Ann, hailed the work the police have been doing in Alexandria.
“(The) Alexandria police have organised themselves and have their own policing strategy, and since they’ve put those strategies in place, we have seen the community outreach where they go from community to community,” Whyte said.
He added: “Those programmes in terms of police youth clubs, neighbourhood watches and going into different associations, even reaching out to the church community, persons are buying into the concept of what the police are putting forward and so far we have seen a reduction in the type of violence that was being committed.”