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Horace Levy, Robert Finzi-Smith, and Reverend Richard Keane
Social reform advocate Horace Levy is cautioning against confusing the different types of gang members that exist when dismissing suggestions for peace talks as a means of curbing crime.
National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang has rejected the idea, saying the authorities will not negotiate with criminals.
However, Levy, speaking Monday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, insisted that it was crucial to note that there are two types of gang members in communities.
According to him, one type is at the level of the Clansman Gang, with professional criminals who carry out contract killings and trade guns, which the police should go after.
But, on the other hand, he said there is another type with which it would be useful to engage in peace talks. These, he said, are not "professional criminals," but "youth in the community fighting over turf; they are not contract killers, they are not involved in trading guns and drugs."
Conceding that "they do commit crimes and the police have to go after them," he nevertheless sought to make a distinction between them and "the professional criminals," and insisted that "we can't mix up these two types".
Bad idea
But Security Consultant Robert Finzi-Smith scoffed at such distinctions, is adamant that peace talks with gangsters of any stripe is a bad idea, as it legitimises them.
He's also suspicious of suggestions that persons engaged in turf wars are not professional criminals.
"Sometimes I wonder if we don't look beyond the nose on our face," he observed incredulously, in response to Levy's distinction.
Regarding the fight over "turf" he asked: "What makes this turf so valuable?"
He answered his own question: "This is turf where drug killing happens, This is turf where people collect protection money, and by virtue of controlling it, make a lot of money... That's the battle over turf."
These persons, he said, are not "semi-angelic people who just want to say 'I control from that corner to this corner.'"
Debate
There has been debate on the issue since last week when Homer Davis, Member of Parliament for St James South, suggested peace talks as a way to tackle crime in the parish.
Mr. Davis has since withdrawn the proposal.
Like Horace Levy, Chairman of Peace Management Initiative Western Reverend Richard Keane said peace talks should be promoted in certain situations.
He said, because some young people have had "wrong values instilled in them," it is only in "sitting down and speaking with these young people... that we can get to hear their heart..."
Such engagements, he said, will give those seeking to intervene in such situations an opportunity to learn what caused them to choose that lifestyle.
It was critical, he said, to get to "the root of that," which would then provide and opportunity "to change the way that people think."
Results
Horace Levy also stressed that peace agreements only yield temporary results and, accordingly urged the government and private sector to provide additional support.
He blames this lack of support for the return of violence to August Town, St. Andrew, where a peace agreement was reached with gangsters.
Levy, backed by a long history of social interventions in high crime communities, continues to urge National Security Minister Horace Chang to change his views on social intervention in such situations.
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