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OPPOSITION People's National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament for South Central St Catherine Sharon Hay-Webster has accused members of the security forces of deliberately endangering the lives of residents from warring communities in St Catherine.
Hay-Webster, who was on Tuesday contributing to debate on a motion she brought to Parliament calling for solutions to the crime problem, said she was making the appeal, with the hope that it would reach the ears of Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.
"I have seen in the past where police pick up persons from De la Vega City (heavily aligned to the People's National Party) and question them and you know where they drop them off to come back home? Out by Homestead (a Jamaica Labour Party enclave) and say walk go home. What you doing? Setting up people," Hay-Webster said.
"And you pick up people from Ellerslie Pen and Homestead and you take them to Port Henderson Road right in front of De la Vega City and say walk go home youth. You can't have the police force, which must secure, exposing people in this way," she said further.
According to Hay-Webster, some police were also acting as instigators of violence in another way.
"It cannot be that because you know you have two set of man in jail — who belong to two separate groupings that you refer to as gangs — that you set them up to fight each other inside and get beating inside because you want them to continue the war and kill off each other outside.
"Because what you are doing is facilitating more pressure for yourself on the road and facilitating the breakdown of families within communities and further tension. I really want to make an appeal that we start cutting this," the South Central St Catherine MP said.
Calling on other members of the House to display "courage and testicular fortitude" in looking at the causes of and dealing with crime, Hay-Webster said "too many step away from the table and leave it to police to solve crime".
"Police cannot solve crime. I know many of us are uncomfortable and really don't want to contend with this thing but I can't walk away from it because I face it continuously and I can't ignore it," she said.
"We have to look at the causes of crime. There were some 35 reports that have been done since 1974, what we need to do is stop using force and begin to use intelligence to fight crime," she added.
Hay-Webster, who was on Tuesday contributing to debate on a motion she brought to Parliament calling for solutions to the crime problem, said she was making the appeal, with the hope that it would reach the ears of Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.
"I have seen in the past where police pick up persons from De la Vega City (heavily aligned to the People's National Party) and question them and you know where they drop them off to come back home? Out by Homestead (a Jamaica Labour Party enclave) and say walk go home. What you doing? Setting up people," Hay-Webster said.
"And you pick up people from Ellerslie Pen and Homestead and you take them to Port Henderson Road right in front of De la Vega City and say walk go home youth. You can't have the police force, which must secure, exposing people in this way," she said further.
According to Hay-Webster, some police were also acting as instigators of violence in another way.
"It cannot be that because you know you have two set of man in jail — who belong to two separate groupings that you refer to as gangs — that you set them up to fight each other inside and get beating inside because you want them to continue the war and kill off each other outside.
"Because what you are doing is facilitating more pressure for yourself on the road and facilitating the breakdown of families within communities and further tension. I really want to make an appeal that we start cutting this," the South Central St Catherine MP said.
Calling on other members of the House to display "courage and testicular fortitude" in looking at the causes of and dealing with crime, Hay-Webster said "too many step away from the table and leave it to police to solve crime".
"Police cannot solve crime. I know many of us are uncomfortable and really don't want to contend with this thing but I can't walk away from it because I face it continuously and I can't ignore it," she said.
"We have to look at the causes of crime. There were some 35 reports that have been done since 1974, what we need to do is stop using force and begin to use intelligence to fight crime," she added.
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