Maloney residents call for more patrols but softer touch

Shane Su­perville

Mal­oney Gar­dens res­i­dents want a stronger po­lice pres­ence in their com­mu­ni­ty but are urg­ing of­fi­cers to show re­straint when in­ter­act­ing with young men, warn­ing that not every­one they en­counter is a crim­i­nal.

The con­cerns were raised by Mal­oney Po­lice Sta­tion Coun­cil pres­i­dent Karen Bethelmy dur­ing a po­lice town hall meet­ing near Build­ing 18, Flamin­go Boule­vard, on Wednes­day night.

Bethelmy said a young man told her that of­fi­cers on pa­trol were of­ten un­nec­es­sar­i­ly hos­tile dur­ing rou­tine in­ter­ac­tions and some­times as­sault­ed passers-by.

She warned that such con­duct could fur­ther un­der­mine pub­lic trust, par­tic­u­lar­ly as po­lice seek greater co­op­er­a­tion from res­i­dents.

"It does more hap­pen with po­lice that are not from Mal­oney. They would be pa­trolling and they would see you, they don't know... some­times you now come from work, you tired and they just hold you... they clout you up... they don't ask you any ques­tions.

"If the po­lice want to bridge that gap and have bet­ter re­la­tions with the com­mu­ni­ty, I think they need to have a bet­ter ap­proach."

North­ern Di­vi­sion North Snr Supt Aval­on Frank said he would speak with his of­fi­cers, agree­ing that bet­ter re­la­tions could not be built amid al­le­ga­tions of mis­con­duct.

"I agree with you that if we want a bet­ter re­la­tion­ship with com­mu­ni­ties, of­fi­cers need to come with clean hands."

Frank al­so urged res­i­dents to work with the po­lice to make their neigh­bour­hoods safer.

He said there had been few­er gang reprisals since the State of Emer­gency but ac­knowl­edged that fear of re­tal­i­a­tion con­tin­ued to pre­vent some res­i­dents from com­ing for­ward.

"But if we don't stand in this com­mu­ni­ty we will fall."

Frank warned that se­cu­ri­ty con­cerns could quick­ly es­ca­late if left un­ad­dressed and urged res­i­dents to con­sid­er the well-be­ing of their chil­dren.