Minister of National Security Senator Dwight Nelson (left) with Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington on a tour of the Haman Barracks facility last Thursday. Nelson has been going around the island in search of solutions to Jamaica's crime problems. Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

The second in a series of public forums on crime was held at the St Gabriel Anglican Church Hall in May Pen on Wednesday.

Dwight Nelson, who has been holding the series of forums, said Clarendon was becoming "a major crime citadel of the country" and listed some horrifying crime statistics for the parish.

Since the start of the year, there have been 79 murders, 80 shooting incidents, 142 robberies. The statistics, according to Nelson, were not as alarming as last year.

Members of the audience asked that neighbourhood watches come in for more help from authorities and pointed to ways this could be achieved as one method of reducing crime in Clarendon.

Putting more motorbike officers on the road to curb traffic offences, introducing closed-circuit television to ghetto areas, curtailing selling at night and taking a hard-line approach to squatting were just some of the recommendations made by the residents.

Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin, in speaking to the recommendations, said the police have already been taking a more supportive role in revitalising dormant neighbourhood watches.

More vehicles

On the issue of using more motorbikes in the force, he said the administration was not looking to buy more vehicles but to fix the ones in disrepair, a process he said had already started in Westmoreland.

A box was set up to collect recommendations or questions other residents might have had for the minister. He assured all who attended that this was not a 'flash-in-the pan' situation.

He said he hoped to continue the dialogue, as his government was very concerned and serious about fighting crime by engaging residents to plan a parish-by-parish solutions.