Cops finding babies in strollers at dances.

WESTERN BUREAU:

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police Clifford Blake is lamenting that at any given time of the night, as many as 40 children can be found sleeping in prams or otherwise engaged at major entertainment events being staged across the island.

Clearly not pleased with the situation, Blake says greater collaboration and more resources are needed to better protect the nation’s children.

“Sometimes when we go to close down a dance at three and four o’clock in the mornings, you will find 30 to 40 children, even children in strollers and prams, at some of these dances,” he said at a child justice guidelines training seminar for cops and justices of the peace in Hanover last Saturday.

Blake also expressed concern over the number of boys under the age of 12 who are left unsupervised and end up converging on street corners or at traffic lights begging or engaged in child labour.

PROBLEMS

“That’s the reality we are facing out there. So these are the things that we seriously need to look at if, collectively, as a nation, we are going to make a difference in how we grow our children and how we grow our society moving forward,” said Blake.

According to Blake, the breakdown in society sometimes stems from situations where especially boys under 12 are allowed to roam the streets of major towns and cities without adult guidance or supervision.

“I was travelling along Marcus Garvey Drive, and right at the intersection at Tinson Pen [Aerodrome], I saw about four boys just around 4:30 in the afternoon. None could have been older than 12 years old, and I said, ‘This is where our problem lies’,” the senior policeman said.