SOS CAMBRIDGE | How terror crept into declining Cambridge

While Ryan ‘Ratty’ Peterkin and his one-time second in command, Delano ‘Prekeh’ Wilmot, the chief architects of the bloodletting and chaos along the once-vibrant agricultural belt in Cambridge, St James, have been eliminated over the past three years, their reign of terror has given birth to a subtle acceptance of skulduggery and disregard for law and order as a new way of life in that region.

Back then, Peterkin and his gangsters showed open defiance, pushing back at the security forces’ attempt to regain control, parading their lethal firepower for all to see and demanding payment from the residents to traverse the public thoroughfare. A split in the gang between the gangster boss and his lieutenant over ill-gotten spoils resulted in a spate of attacks on family members of both men.

Both gangsters have relatives in Mother Lane in nearby Retrieve, which became a battlefield as bloodshed in the troubled community became a daily feature. In one instance, a mother and daughter were killed because they objected to Peterkin’s men taking their goats to stage a party in the area.

Community members were forced to act as lookouts, monitoring the security forces’ every move, which, combined with the terrain, made the task even more challenging for the crime-fighters.

Peterkin was killed in a confrontation with the police in Williamsfield, Westmoreland, while his former accomplice was fatally shot during a gunfight with the security forces 10 months ago.

Crime chief for the police’s Area One, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Clifford Chambers, told The Sunday Gleaner that there is a quiet unease in the affected areas and there are no indications that the Ratty or Prekeh gangs are still operational, but his men and women are maintaining an active presence in the hotspots with frequent roadblocks, vehicular checkpoints, and motorised roving patrols.

TENSION IN THE COMMUNITY

“The climate as it is right now in some of these communities is tense because of the gangsters who have been killed, who are aligned to a particular gang and those who are being targeted by other gangs, while the effectiveness of the police in keeping them at bay has caused some amount of tension in these communities,” Chambers said. “This tension doesn’t augur well for the police, in the sense that persons are reluctant to come out and give their support, and it doesn’t augur well for residents themselves, who may find themselves being assaulted, being pounced upon by gang members simply because of where they might live.”

Chambers argued that the impact of the anti-crime strategies was greater, in terms of containment, during the state of public emergency (SOE).

“Even though we were able to convict persons, a lot of other people who we know are influencers were released, and as a result of that, these gangsters who are part of many gangs, operating in concert, make a bad situation worse, having gone back in the space.”

According to the ACP, Cambridge and Retrieve do not present a risk at this time, although, “truth be told, there are persons who because of low literacy will somehow think that that line that those persons rigged had some reward and might somehow think that they would want to emulate, even though the life cycle of criminals is kind of short – killed by a gang member, killed by another person from another gang, maybe fatal shooting by the police, or arrest, charge and convicted.

“These areas ... have been normalised now,” he added. “They are not a clear and present danger as they once were.”

ACP Chambers could not provide the comparative crime statistics for the Cambridge communities at the time of the interview, but gave the assurance that crime has plunged since Wilmot’s demise.

Data for the entire St James Police Division is showing a 52 per cent increase in murders for the period January 1 to May 19, but it has also seen an eight per cent drop in incidents of shooting since the start of the year. Sixty-four homicides have been committed for the review period, compared to 42 last year, while there have been 44 shootings, four less than the 48 for the corresponding period in 2020. Some 514 murders have been committed across the country up to May 19, four less than last year.

SECOND MOST MURDEROUS DIVISION

The 64 killings in St James makes it the second most murderous division, behind St Andrew South (72), which is followed by St Catherine South (53), Kingston Western (42), and St Catherine North (41).

A community activist, who spoke to The Sunday Gleaner on condition of anonymity, wants to see more strident efforts made to alleviate poverty and improve literacy to eliminate crime in the area.

“Most of the areas that are the hotspots have been listed among the poorest communities in Jamaica some years ago by the PIOJ (Planning Institute of Jamaica). These include sections of Cambridge, Niagara, Catadupa, and sections of Stonehenge, to name a few,” she said.

“No matter what is done by the authorities, the persons who are affected by poverty more do not get the benefits, but then a little guy who left the area and learn to do the scamming comes back in the area and recruit them, and because most of them can’t read and write, the chaos starts,” she reasoned.

“It’s not that you never had rivalry before, but you never have shots firing or a man taking up things in their own hands,” she said, acknowledging that people were feeling safer now that the main gang leaders have died.

“Back then, driving along this corridor, nobody – be it public passenger or private vehicles – would venture on to any off roads. That was a no-no because of how afraid people were and the guns are still here,” the activist said.

“The informer-fi-dead culture is our reality ... . It is puzzling to see how crime has changed the good image of Cambridge,” she lamented.

While Cambridge has lost its once harmonious and tranquil presence, the community believes that Catadupa, a community further south, is now one of the most volatile communities outside of the city of Montego Bay.

“It is a railway station community where everything evolved around the residents selling items to passengers on the trains, and then the train stopped running and everything died, but Catadupa is a rural, remote community that you should not go to, only if you deliberately have to go.”

She recalls that the gun-slinging incidents started in Catadupa in 1998, a community she describes as a volcano, ready to erupt, that still serves as a safe haven for persons hiding from the law.

MP confident of turning things around

St James Southern Member of Parliament Homer Davis wants to embark on an ambitious programme to revive and re-energise Cambridge and the adjoining villages, which have been plagued with lawlessness and gang violence over the years.

Although elected to Gordon House eight months ago, Davis is no stranger to Cambridge, which he served as councillor for three consecutive terms – and landing the mayorship of Montego Bay – before last September’s general election.

“There is no doubt that over the past 10 years there has been the influx of the get-rich schemes like the lotto scam, and individuals have inveigled others to get involved,” Davis told The Sunday Gleaner.

“The more money they make is the more they spend, and the more they spend is the more that they need money, and in the process of seeking more to spend, conflict develops, so lines are drawn and gangs are formed, and in order to have some power, they purchase guns and begin to kill each other for things that do not even warrant an apology. So it seems never-ending, but I have some hope because it is not as bad as it was before,” he said.

“Cambridge was never like that, but the residents must accept that it is best for one to stand on the side of law and order, than on the side of indiscipline,” he argued.

Davis, who is also minister of state in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, acknowledges that Cambridge is today a shadow of its former self with other key infrastructure no longer existing to serve the nearly 8,000-strong population.

Residents must depend on the fire service from Montego Bay 11 miles away. A pharmacy would also be a welcome addition, while financial institutions are reluctant to commission an ATM in the area.

“Cambridge is lacking in a number of things that will make the community be on par with other rural urbanised areas,” the MP said. “There is no gas station, so if anyone want to replenish they have to go all the way to Montpelier, and if they want to go to the market, they have to go all the way to Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay.”

The MP said he is in dialogue with the HEART/NSTA Trust to establish a programme to engage the unattached youth, and is also hoping to utilise some of the government lands in the area for a housing development, rubbishing suggestions that criminals could have turned persons off from wanting to invest in a home in the area.

In 2016, there were about 1,250 hectares under agricultural production in the parish, with vegetables, pineapples, plantains, ginger as well as sweet and Irish potato among popular crops. The region was also set to become the leading producer of banana, and was even pushing for great volumes in the production of honey, but Glendon Harris, president of the St James chapter of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, says lottery scamming and other criminal activities have become the preferred choice for school leavers in Cambridge and other farming villages in St James Southern.

However, Davis is convinced that properly managed programmes targeting the unattached can turn things around.

“As MP, it is my responsibility to work with some of these young, unattached men and women to get them in a frame of mind that by the sweat of their brow, they can eat bread by doing legal and proper work,” he said.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com