{"id":2448,"date":"2019-06-24T18:47:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T18:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2448"},"modified":"2019-06-24T18:57:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T18:57:14","slug":"the-state-of-emergency-is-not-working-hylton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2448","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The State of Emergency is not working\u2019 \u2013 Hylton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Nattoo – <\/strong>Staff Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrime is bigger than politics, and the fact is, the State of Public Emergency is just not working.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s according to Andre Hylton, People\u2019s National Party\nCaretaker for Central St. James, in an interview with the Western Mirror<\/strong>\nlast Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the ongoing Zones of Special Operations and the\nsupposedly much-improved States of Public Emergency, citizens of western\nparishes, particularly those in St. James, continue to cower in fear, as the\nincreased security presence appears not to be having its intended impact, with\nmurders still occurring with some regularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just last Thursday, in the upscale community of West Gate\nHills, St. James, the body of an unidentified male, suspected to be around 30\nyears old, was found stuffed in a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The body was reportedly clad in a green T-shirt, blue shorts\nand orange underpants, and is around 5 ft. 10 inches long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other recently recorded incidents \u2013 including the murders of\nRodney \u2018Al\u2019 Myles, Rosemount Gardens, and 17-year-old Mark Powell, Green Pond,\nlast Sunday and Monday respectively, have bolstered the former Eastern St.\nAndrew Member of Parliament\u2019s arguments that the State of Public Emergency has\nso far been underperforming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will never solve crime in Jamaica by increasing police\npresence, using brute force, or using bigger guns,\u201d Hylton explained. \u201cUntil we\nunderstand the source of these behaviours, until we get to the root of the\nproblems, we\u2019ll make no progress. So, no matter how many soldiers and police we\nfill the streets with, if we do not invest in a more intelligence-driven\napproach, we can\u2019t solve anything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hylton posits that the well-intentioned State of Public\nEmergency has instead become a means of alienating the common citizen, which\nunwittingly contributes to and deepens the roots of crime in most inner-city\ncommunities, which are characterized by underdevelopment and neglect by\npolitical leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we need is to sit down with the youths in these\ncommunities. We have to invite them around the table and have them become a\npart of the solution. It can\u2019t just be all about brute force. We need to find\nways to bring them back into becoming responsible and fruitful citizens. We\nneed to show them what a civilized lifestyle is, and how they can benefit from\nbeing a part of it,\u201d Hylton expressed. He continued: \u201cThere has to be a\ncollaborative approach with the citizens of St. James. It\u2019s about engagement.\nThe stakeholders \u2013 the church, the various community groups, the police, the\nsoldiers \u2013 all have to come together. That\u2019s the only way we will start to make\na dent in crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experienced politician and businessman is not merely\nmaking guesswork with his recommendations. His time as a Member of Parliament\nin Eastern St. Andrew, dealing with the once-violent August Town, serves as a\nconstant reminder to the role an approach that emphasizes inclusivity can play\nin seriously tackling crime. For instance, unlike the current fixture of sporadic\nand sometimes random detainment of young people under the State of Public\nEmergency, Hylton sought to change that dynamic in the violent August Town\ncommunity by introducing young men in the community to the police outside of\nviolent circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the help of stakeholders, I organized two buses,\nloaded them, and headed for police station. There, I had the young men meet\nwith the police, talk to them, and have valuable discussions outside of the\nusually tense environment. That created a true, genuine engagement with the\nyoung people, which helped to create a valuable partnership. It was a\ncollective of people just getting to know and understand each other, and that\nhelped in the long run.\u201d In 2016, August Town recorded 0 murders, where\npreviously it had recorded 48.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STOP SUPPRESSING SMALL BUSINESSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hylton lamented: \u201cOne of the other things I see happening is\nsmall businesses really suffering. Right now, what you have is some big\nestablished businesses making millions, while the small man is stifled because\nof the unrealistic closing hours imposed upon them. Those people are suffering,\nand can\u2019t send their kids to school, and can\u2019t put food on the table. Those\npeople are prone to violence, to acts of suicide, to depression, and all of\nthose things. The government has to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further suggested that the government cannot afford to\ntake a one-size-fits-all approach, and should examine the unique conditions\nthat persist, and provide intelligence-driven solutions where possible. \u201cThe\ngovernment\u2019s number one responsibility is its people. Right now, what they are\ndoing isn\u2019t working. People are suffering, and something has to be done. They\nmust consider extending business hours for the small man, and must develop an\nappreciation for a more intelligent approach to crime fighting. What is\nhappening now simply cannot work. It is not a crime plan, and it really just\nisn\u2019t working. More has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the ongoing Zones of Special Operations and the supposedly much-improved States of Public Emergency, citizens of western parishes, particularly those in St. James, continue to cower in fear, as the increased security presence appears not to be having its intended impact, with murders still occurring with some regularity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18,1314,1315,586,390,1316,30,264,103],"class_list":["post-2448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-crime","tag-curfews","tag-intelligence-driven-approach","tag-peoples-national-party","tag-state-of-public-emergency","tag-west-gate-hills","tag-western-jamaica","tag-western-mirror","tag-zones-of-special-operations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}