THE Clarendon Crime Prevention Committee (CCPC) last Thursday spruced up the Canaan Heights Basic School in the parish, as part of its efforts to improve relations with residents of the violence-prone community.

More than 50 officers holstered their pistols and picked up paint brushes, brooms, machetes and other tools to give the basic school a well-deserved facelift.

While classes were still in progress for the more than 50 students enrolled at the institution, the officers repainted the outside walls, cleared land and planted gardens on the school grounds. A handful of mostly female residents also helped in the day's activities.

"Canaan Heights suffer from a lot of stigma, crime and violence and wanton shootings, so the police wanted to do some intervention in the community starting at the basic school," said Albert Bailey, member of the Canaan Heights development committee.

"We are very happy for this clean-up project, in fact we wanted to do a Labour Day project, but because the police wanted to do some intervention activities in the community, we decided to hold off," Principal Elese Patterson told the Observer. She said interaction between the police and the mostly male students would help to foster a non-violent mindset from a tender age.

The CCPC efforts, however, seemed to have been limited in terms of making the majority of the residents aware of the activities at the school.

The low turnout of residents, however, did not dampen the spirit of the police. According to constable Camay Watson, Clarendon residents are becoming increasingly aware of police interventions being undertaken in the parish.

"The fact that it is community activity being undertaken by the police normally you would find residents supporting it. Today's activity is a one-day thing but interventions are ongoing and the word is being spread as we speak, so you will see more residents coming out as the programmes continue," Watson told the Observer.