MONTEGO BAY, St James – The St James chapter of the Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica (YCWJ) was officially launched in St James this week.

The organisation, which is geared at involving youths in the fight against crime and violence, was launched on Thursday at the Irwin High School in the parish. It has attracted the participation of 60 youths from four schools in the parish, including the Irwin High School, the Mount Salem Primary and Junior High School, the Catherine Hall Primary School and the Granville All Age School.

Participants were trained in a range of areas that include mentoring, mediation and conflict management. In addition, they were educated in:

. anonymous and safe crime reporting;

. peer and cross age teaching;

. bus safety and action projects; and

. crime, violence and drug prevention education.

The YCWJ was launched in March 2004 under former United States ambassador Sue Cobb’s Building Bridges programme. The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the Jamaica Constabulary Force and chambers of commerce, along with the Education Ministry and a number of non-government and community-based organisations, are all partners in the initiative.

Speaking at Thursday’s launch, Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce president Mark Kerr-Jarrett encouraged the youths to utilise their training without fear of being labelled ‘informers’.

“You are going to have people out there who are going to say ‘Oh Lord, you are just informers’ but you know that they have aligned themselves with the problems,” he said. “They have aligned themselves with the criminals and they are no better than the very criminals themselves because they become part of the problem. They don’t want to become part of the solution.”

– hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com