Students arrested, anti-gang push ramped up in Westmoreland

WESTERN BUREAU:

TWO STUDENTS have been charged as the police ramp up their anti-gang campaign within Westmoreland schools following an incident last week in which a male student of Godfrey Stewart High was allegedly assaulted and robbed by other students, at least one of whom was armed with a machete.

The teenagers involved have been suspended from school and two were arrested and charged with robbery with aggravation and unlawful wounding.

Superintendent Wayne Josephs, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, said that the Counterterrorism and Organized Crime Division (C-TOC) Branch has been called in to assist in tackling the issue of gangs in schools across the parish.

“They (C-TOC) have a tailormade programme for this kind of behaviour within schools,” Josephs said on Thursday. “They will be coming down to have several lectures with Godfrey Stewart, and going forward, with other schools.”

He added that the Victim Services Unit, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, and the Community Safety and Security Branch of the police force will also be engaged.

Josephs said that based on footage of the incident captured last week, it is evident that law enforcement will have to immediately double their efforts to counter gangs in schools.

“It has been known for a while that gangs are being recruited in schools, and this is not unique to Godfrey Stewart, and what we see playing out is a reflection of what we see in the communities that these students come from,” he said, noting that school resource officers are deployed to these schools daily and are in constant dialogue with students, parents, and school staff.

“... It is unfortunate that we now have to be considering to have random operations within these schools,” said Josephs, noting that the situation is so severe that even security guards at the gates of some schools are fearful of asking students to open their bags for searches.

The commanding officer appealed to parents to get to know their children better and play active and positive roles in their lives.