St. Thomas Police Concerned About High Level of Truancy

The St. Thomas Police Division is concerned about the large number of primary and high school students who loiter at bus parks, games arcade and shopping centres in Morant Bay during school hours.

This concern was raised by Det. Sgt. Carlton James while addressing senior citizens and volunteers at a Senior Citizens Conference on Wednesday (March 4) at the Anglican Church Hall in Morant Bay. The conference was organised by the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) under the umbrella of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

It was organized to inform seniors of support services provided for them, such as National Insurance benefits, the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), health facilities and public assistance programmes.

Discussions also centred on the importance of registration of births and deaths, the role and function of the Custos and parish programmes and projects of senior citizens’ clubs.

Det. Sgt. James said that students could be seen at games arcade and on the streets during and after school hours. He said that children, especially girls, could be easily influenced by “bad elements,” and called on guardians, parents, and grandparents to assist the police by counselling their children. “The police cannot do it alone,” he said, adding that policemen from the division sometimes had to prioritise their activities whenever there was a shortage of manpower at the station.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Theft and Rape as it relates to the Senior Citizens’, the Det. Sgt. advised the group to do background checks on persons they employed in their homes. He suggested that they could get information by checking with their former employers and with police stations in districts where the prospective employees reside.

Other speakers at the event were the Custos of St. Thomas Leonard Saunders; the local Registrar of births and deaths, Patricia Lindsay Cassells; Parish Manager at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Dorett Grant; Programme Organiser, Education and Media, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Charmaine White-McFarlane and Parish Organiser, NCSC, Verona O’Connor.