Retired Police Encouraged to form Peace Corps

Psychiatrist Dr. Aggrey Irons has called on retired members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to form a peace corps, which would work with communities to reduce organized crimes.
“We can’t have an army, a constabulary force, and organised crimes and not balance it with a peace corps,” Dr. Irons said at a luncheon held recently at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston to honour 64 retired police officers.
He said that through this peace corps, the retired officers would be able to mentor young men and also serve as father figures. “There are thousands of boys in our country who need a father. Almost all the gunmen in society started off as gun boys. the best time to (get to) them is before they become men,” he pointed out.
Dr. Irons further suggested that the retired officers could create a poverty eradication programme, where they would adopt genuinely poor families and help the members to find jobs or create income-earning opportunities, and assist with the educational development of the children.
“Crime is caused by greed and negative opportunity; opportunity to do the wrong things. Nobody wants to be poor, nobody likes to be poor, so what you can do is to set them up in a job and help them to educate their children,” he outlined.
“This is your time to help poor people not to be poor anymore. If you and every retired person were to adopt a genuinely poor family and help them out of poverty, the poverty eradication programme would be well on its way,” Dr. Irons added.
He commended the Police Officers Association and the Police Cooperative Credit Union which organized the luncheon, for honouring the retired police officers.