THUMBS UP for ‘nosey’ neighbours

With a 225 per cent increase in break-ins in at least one section of St Andrew, citizens’ associations, and the police are working to empower residents to be nosey and safeguard each other.

Up to February 28, the police had recorded 157 cases of break-ins across Jamaica, an increase of approximately five per cent or eight more than the 149 cases reported for the corresponding period in 2024.

The national increase is, however, marginal when matched against cases in the St Andrew North Police Division, where reports have surged, with 26 cases up to March 4 compared to eight for the corresponding period last year.

Opal Davis, president of the Havendale Citizens Association, told The Gleaner that some residents are careless about their safety and security.

“Obvious things like I can point to two houses and say to you nobody not there and they are probably abroad or something. They have the light burning during the day, house locked tight. Get your neighbour to switch on your light in the evening. Don’t leave that light burning because you’re sending me a signal to say if I pass there three mornings and see the same light on, it is a clear sign to me,” Davis said.

The retired public-sector worker said the culprits study vulnerable people.

She added that she once witnessed a robber attempting to open a front door and made an alarm.

“If it was an Olympics year and we use him, [Usain] Bolt don’t have a record because he was so frightened. He [had opened] the gate, but when him a leave, him jump the gate,” she said, adding that residents need to be strategic in securing self and community.

Davis, who is also the newly elected national president for the Neighbourhood Watch Council, said the police cannot manage by themselves, and she will be seeking to rebrand with the clear message, ‘We need to talk to each other. Communicate or we are doomed’.

“New logo, new message, a whole new scheme of things ... ,” she said. “They would have to have one police for each of us to secure us properly. We have to, as neighbours, look out for each other. As neighbours, we need to say, ‘Let us get some panic buttons, six of us come together, ask the security firms if we can get a discount in the community ...’ . The men who prey on us, they sit and they plan.

“[Home security companies] can’t help, the police can’t help, but I, who live next door to you, see something and act on it immediately.”

Davis also said that one of the hazards Havendale residents face is construction in the community.

“Everyday you see a new set of men going down the road. Where they coming from, you don’t know. They come as a labourer, but when they are on top of the building, they are looking over next door to see ‘that window always open’ so they can put someone in, and they go in and open the house,” Davis said, adding that such a scenario actually did occur and was relayed to the police in a break-in case.

The residents of Havendale are calling for developers to seek assistance from the police in screening some of their workers.

Inspector Cheree Greaves, assigned to St Andrew North, told The Gleaner that the police create flyers and disseminate them electronically and via print as well, and during Friday walk-throughs, issue them to residents.

“The Neighbourhood Watch is a movement. It’s one of our proactive forms of policing used in the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) and St Andrew North in particular. So it is the police collaborating with the citizens to police their communities. In other words, it’s a philosophy, a way of life. It is us policing with the people as against policing the people,” Greaves said.

She has encouraged the establishment of active watch groups and said they help to reduce property crimes.

“When you have an active watch, the criminals can’t bore in and take advantage of properties or anything that is left outside.You have ‘Miss Mattis’, who will watch through her window and call the police and say ‘I see someone at this house, and I have never seen this person before’. Nosey neighbours, we can be irritated by them, but they stand a purpose,” Greaves told The Gleaner.

She said cameras are also essential but they sometimes have blind spots.

“The Neighbourhood Watch movement enhances the security of the neighbourhood. It creates safe neighbourhoods, and the spinoff is that it boosts property value and enhances the aesthetics of the community, too,” Greaves said, adding that the police host an awards seminar every October to motivate best practices.

The police say criminals love dilapidated buildings and overgrown shrubs because they want somewhere to hide, so such infrastructure and greenery is guarded against.

Greaves also encouraged residents to join community WhatsApp groups, which the police are also a part of and are responsive.

Acting Superintendent Randy Sweeney, head of the St Andrew North Police, said that while the problem persists, the police find that residents are unaware of what is happening, and so public knowledge and education are important.

Constant Spring, Red Hills, Havendale, and Meadowbrook are primarily among the problematic areas.

“Persons should be more vigilant and put things in place like CCTV. Look for persons who are always selling items, and if you suspect that they are stolen, report it to the police ... . Residents in some of these areas say that where there is mass construction taking place, there is an increase in break-ins. They also suspect it is some of these same workers who are contributing,” Sweeney said.

The Gleaner understands that a number of arrests have been made with regard to break-ins.

At least one serial breaker in the division is currently in custody after he was recently caught on camera removing another camera and breaking into a premises.

The criminal was arrested after he reported as condition of bail for another break-in.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com