Cops, fisherfolk forge link to curb crime
Published:Thursday | March 3, 2022 | 12:11 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
The police have partnered with operators at the Forum Fishing Beach in Portmore to crack down on crime, including the smuggling of guns and drugs.
The beach-watch programme, which was launched two Fridays ago, is part of a wider neighbourhood watch initiative.
Support has come from Anthony Whyte, president of the New Forum Fishing Beach Benevolent Society and chairman of the new initiative, as well as members of his executive.
“This cooperation between us and the police is of vital importance. It is needed mainly for security. I have seen characters around here that might look friendly, but in fact, they are not, and who knows what their next move will be,” Whyte said.
While saying that he had not personally witnessed the smuggling of contraband since he started working at the Forum Fishing Village in 2014, he asserted that the guns-for-drugs trade involving fishermen is real.
“I have not stumbled upon it as yet, but I heard from other fishermen and have seen activities to draw my suspicion,” Whyte revealed, adding that the Beach Watch was launched because of police intelligence, which has spurred a proactive campaign to deter traffickers.
But a fisherman who requested anonymity said that while the partnership was a positive move for other fishing beaches, he believes that it is a waste of time to launch the initiative at Forum. According to him, the Portmore beach was too public for illicit activity.
“Wrong place to launch this. Go to Rocky Point and Morant Point. What I can tell, the ones who are involved will come here and try to recruit certain fishermen to pilot their boat to Haiti, but nothing happens on this beach,” he said.
The fisherman revealed, however, that there is widespread theft of boat engines at the New Forum Beach. He believes that the trend is linked to the contraband barter market with Haiti.
He lamented that lights on the beach are dysfunctional and that there has been no running water there for more than four years.
Some fishermen at the nearby Port Henderson Fishing Beach are adamant that nothing illegal is taking place at Forum to necessitate the launch of the beach watch.
However, another fisherman with whom The Gleaner spoke disputed that assertion.
“This bigger than us. We have to know what we say because we will die if we talk too much,” he said.
Meanwhile, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Charmaine Shand, who is in charge of the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said that the beach-watch programme would be expanded islandwide.
It was first conceptualised in 2016.
Shand reports that there have been cases of break-ins, robberies, and the theft of fishing nets, boat engines, and vessels at Forum.
“We were also concerned about the guns-for-drugs trade, which is rampant on our fishing beaches right across the island,” the senior officer told The Gleaner on Sunday.
“The fishermen, both from our shores and elsewhere, have easy access to enter the country through our borders and take with them illegal firearms and other contraband.”
Approximately 2,400 illegal guns are estimated to be smuggled into Jamaica annually, many through the island’s more than 140 informal ports.
Shand disclosed that the Greenwich Town beach watch, which was launched in 2016 but went dormant, has also been revitalised.
The Community Safety and Security Branch head said that the police expect to extend beaches watches into Morant Bay, St Thomas, and St Mary.