MANDEVILLE, Manchester — With nearly half of the police youth clubs in this south-central parish dormant plus a worrying crime trend, young people are being recruited as members to strengthen the crime-reduction initiative.

Manchester has recorded 10 murders since the start of the year when compared to six for the corresponding period last year (January 1 to March 20).

Speaking at a recruitment drive at Cecil Charlton Park in Mandeville last Friday, coordinator of the Manchester Police Youth Club Constable Rayon Thompson said the event was the first of its kind in Jamaica.

“The aim and objective is to engage the young people to see how best we can have them join a police youth club in and around a community, or for those who are in schools,” he said.

The initiative, which falls under the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Community Safety and Security Branch, is aimed at engaging young people so as to guide them away from criminal activity.

“The youth club is one of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s crime reduction initiatives. We engage these young people to actually steer them away from danger at an early age. They would have had police officers who they communicate with,” he said.

“We teach them in different areas. We have training camps for them. On a weekly basis they will see police coming in their areas, in their schools. It is easier for us to manage crime,” he added.

Further, Thompson said the youth clubs showcase the talent of members and police officers.

He added that there are 30 youth clubs in Manchester.

“We have about maybe half of that amount dormant. One of our aims is to reactivate those that are dormant… We are actually going into the schools and engaging the young people there,” he said.

The Manchester Police Youth Club has attained recognition nationally and represented the country internationally.

“Last year Sandra Whyte, the president for the Christiana Police Youth Club who is also a National Police Youth Club council executive member, was sponsored and sent to Dubai to represent Jamaica at an international youth conference,” Thompson said.

He added that there will be more community-based activities with the lifting of the Disaster Risk Management Act.

“Sporting activities being one of the number one [tools] wherein COVID-19 would have diverted a lot of that, and we would have had our police youth club fun day where clubs from across the island would have been competing,” he said.

“Thanks to the prime minister who has now reopened the country. To an extent, we will be able to engage our young people directly,” he added.

President of the Alligator Pond Police Youth Club and sports coordinator for the National Police Youth Club, Dimani Facey, 20, said the movement is fundamental in curbing crime.

“If you should check the statistics, you will see that a lot of our criminal activities that are happening involve young people. What we try to do here in our police youth club movement is to gather them and show them how to make a positive life so they don’t have to engage in crime,” he said.