Chang vows to reclaim communities from gangsters, tackle school violence

With Jamaica experiencing a significant decline in its homicide rate, the Government is looking to focus more “heavily” on social intervention in schools to tackle violence in the educational environment and rebuild communities that are overrun by gangsters.

National Security Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Horace Chang, who made the overall declaration, opined that gangsters often do not reside in the affected communities because of their financial means to live elsewhere.

Speaking at Friday’s launch of the 2023 Jamaica National Crime Victimisation Survey (JNCVS) Report at AC Hotel in St Andrew, Chang stressed the importance of a holistic approach to addressing families in the affected communities, highlighting the impact on school violence.

“It also means that we have to pivot some more. We (the Government) have been doing a lot of work on the social intervention side, but it will allow us now to focus more heavily on the social side, because the public order allows us to get our schools in order,” he explained.

“School violence is a serious problem; that’s where the recruitment (into gangs reportedly) comes from. It means resources besides the school resource officer have to be put in the school, where we deal with the families in difficult communities, but it has to be holistic,” Chang indicated.

He said the focus on communities impacted by crime and gangsters has to be similar to the Government’s investment in the JCF.

“Just as we did for the police, where we invested in human resources, infrastructure, training, equipment and modernisation, we will have to look at several of these communities where gangs have recruited and become embedded,” Chang stated.

To combat gang presence in those spaces, the Government plans to rebuild communities, ensuring access to quality schools, public health, recreation and community activities, posited Chang.

“The leading gangsters don’t stay in the community enuh; they have enough money to establish their homes elsewhere. They have bases in communities where they operate from, and they adopt the colour of the political party which is in the particular area,” Chang elaborated.

“We’ll have to get into those communities and rebuild the communities, (to) ensure that we have quality schools, quality public health, quality recreation and all the activities that lead to successful community and a healthy community,” the deputy prime minister stated.