Community Perspectives on Impacts of Removed Police Outpost in The Ivy, St Michael

While some residents in The Ivy, St Michael, praised a recently removed police outpost for bringing security to their area, others say the community still requires closer attention following cases of vandalism, break-ins and the sale of illegal drugs.

Resident Marleene Nurse has lamented a trend of vandals targeting kiosks at the Blenheim pavilion, smashing the windows and breaking locks to enter and sleep.

Even more concerning for her was the sale of illegal drugs, with some being sold to teenagers.

“The outpost deserved to be out here, because there are people here that would go and sell drugs to children,” she told the MIDWEEK NATION.

“We bought locks to put on the fence by the shops and locked it. Then last night, someone told me that vagrants were back in one of the shops. They took the gate and sprained it, and went back in the shop.”

The outpost was set up in October 2022, following a series of shootings that left many residents concerned about their safety.

The added security gave a sense of comfort to Kim Watson, who praised law enforcement for cooling down

the temperature.

“Before there was a lot of shooting out there, but since the outpost came everything cooled down. You feel good once the police are here because they would come down and talk to you,” she said.

Watson remains cautious, however, and prefers to retreat into her home at the sight of unfamiliar individuals in the community.

“So many people are getting killed, you’re forgetting the names. It doesn’t feel good because as you look in the paper, it’s a lot of young people dying. I could be home a day and it’s one of my family members,” she said.

Along the area where the outpost stood, another resident said it would be obvious for criminal activity to cool down with police in the area, and saw the outpost as a temporary fix.

He identified several factors that caused people to turn to crime, stating that many residents were stricken by poverty, and with fewer opportunities for gainful employment, opted instead to make their money and find their home among gangs and crews on the block.

At a shop, other residents put down the violence to “a few bad apples” and felt that many of the often proposed solutions needed to move beyond pleas for religious principles or the downing of guns.

“The Government is asking for the youths to put down their guns or go to church, but that ain’t how you’re going do it,” George Oliver said.

“When they go to church and the church service over and they come home, what they going to do? They’re still hungry, still need something to do, and without it, they’re going to resort to crime.”

Oliver, who served time in prison, said he has since made efforts to turn his life around. He works as a landscaper, lending aid to people in his community and doing what he can to mentor the youth.

“It is important to continue teaching the youths and arming them with the tools to learn a trade and make an honest living. Often when people come out, they don’t have a lot of opportunities and they return to the streets with a gun in their hand.”

Anderson O’neal Sandiford, who at 21 was sentenced to 24 years in jail for murder, said there were few to no chances for an honest living with the stigma attached to his crimes. He cited a lack of support and few options for enfranchisement as a key factor leading people into criminal behaviour.

“Let me say, a man doesn’t have a family to come home to and he has to get his daily food. What the Government forcing him to do? Do the same crime out here,” he said.

“The Government has to open their eyes. They’re looking at guns but you have to look at the beginning of the problem. You have a man that coming out of prison willing to change and not go back to the former life, and they’re coming to do something present to change. You’re making it hard with no options to do good,” he said.