MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Students at the secondary level here are being encouraged to look towards transforming their country by joining police youth clubs (PYCs), which are geared at reducing the friction between young people and law enforcement.

Prominent school, political and sports leaders say instilling discipline and shaping the minds of young people have brought good outcomes for many with the assistance of mentorship programmes in police youth clubs.

Coordinator of the Manchester Police Youth Club, Constable Rayon Thompson said the organisation has been expanded beyond community-based policing.

“Having the support of the police…and being a part of the positive moulding of our young people has really changed the outcome for many. The police youth club movement has stepped out of the community and is now in our third school in Manchester,” he said while addressing last Thursday’s official launch of the May Day High School Police Youth Club.

He added that the PYC was to be launched at May Day High from 2019 but was affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

His superior, deputy superintendent in charge of operations for Manchester, Anthony Lewis emphasised that policing has evolved over the years and called on young people to see themselves as nation builders.

“We are looking to transform this country and the only way we can do it is through the young people, so I want you to take this [PYC] as a very important [base],” he said.

Former minister of national security and current Opposition Senator Peter Bunting said it goes beyond just mentorship as he reiterated his view on the militarisation of the police force.

“That is a trend that I am totally against. When I was minister, in fact, from a policy perspective [I] had a shift away from the militarisation of policing to community policing. We took a lot of people out of the denim outfits. We promoted the traditional, more civilian red seam and khaki uniform because we felt that we didn’t have to duplicate the army with the police,” he said.

“In fact, we believe that the sort of paramilitary policing where you see police officers in full ballistic vests and helmets and M16 rifles, that can’t be the only type of policing that young people know — and in so many communities across Jamaica that is the only type of policing that they see,” he added.

He believes that the police ought to build partnerships with civilians in ways that will reduce tension.

“… [The police] not being seen as an occupying force in the community, but by being seen as part of the community,” said Bunting who is a former Member of Parliament for Manchester Central.

“I think we should move to reduce the friction between police and the citizenry, and one of the best ways to do that is through the police youth club… I encourage the young people especially to think of the police as their friends. Think of them as partners rather than [as] enforcers and bad people in the sense of bad man dem can ‘chuck it’ with gun. That is not the ideal civilian, community-based type of policing,” he said.

He commended the police for being mentors and role models for young people.

“The young men in particular [are] suffering from [a] lack of positive male role models and the impact of paternal deprivation… There is nothing more important than investing in our young people,” he said.

Retired Olympian Sherone Simpson, in delivering the keynote address, said it is vital that youth clubs are revamped and expanded.

“Statistics have shown that our young people since the pandemic have ventured into so many criminal activities, and these youth clubs will help to get our young people in line to have a sense of purpose and to help groom them to become good citizens,” she said.

She added that opportunities to motivate young people are important.

“… Because they are the future and what is happening now, especially since the pandemic, it is crazy. It was reported that 27,000 of our children are disengaged from our education system and we have to try to speak to the parents and just to find those children, as many as possible, to get them back in school because education is very important,” she said.

School Principal Stanford Davis encouraged students to be advocates of the PYC.

“We believe that this club will make a big difference and we can only go to higher heights,” he said.