St Thomas has long held the unenviable title of being the 'forgotten parish' of Jamaica, perceived as an underdeveloped area which had its glory days with the Goodyear tyre factory and now know mainly for the Paul Bogle statue, the Yallahs ford and obeah (not necessarily in that order).
Now, however, St Thomas is making the news with, unfortunately, alarming consistency. The parish which seemed immune from the crime wave sweeping the island has, in recent weeks, been in The STAR for violent reasons. On Wednesday, it was reported that a man has been terrorising residents, especially the elderly returnees, in York, Prospect and South Haven. A few weeks ago, it was reported in this newspaper that there were threats to kill 50 people in reprisal for a don-related murder, while another report highlighted the problem of extortion with an explosive device allegedly placed under an uncooperative businessman's car.
No sense of safety
This all adds up to a destruction of the sense of safety of St.Thomas' residents and while we are not privy to the plans of the police in the parish to address the crime problem, we urge them to look to Clarendon.
That parish was relatively peaceful until the recent upsurge of gang-related violence. And while the security forces have responded by inundating hot spots in Clarendon, their presence has not quelled the beasts, quite likely because it was left until too late.
We suggest, then, that the security forces take a Clarendon-style approach in St Thomas' trouble spots before they reach a state where reprisals and 'gang runnings' are entrenched. Who knows; it may already be too late, but we have to try before we lose another parish, even a forgotten one, to the hooligans.
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