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 Message from Dr. Peter K. B. St. Jean, Sociologist and Criminologist – research and development advisor to the Portsmouth Community Watch Foundation
Let me first congratulate members of the Portsmouth community, especially the executive of the Portsmouth Community Watch Foundation, with whom I have worked closely and intensely over the last few months to finalize the formation of its organization and strategy.
Although my correspondence was directly with Adenauer Douglas, I could feel the spirit of all the residents of Portsmouth, and the police, business, governmental and nongovernmental partners living and breathing through the bylaws which will serve as the guiding manual to this much needed effort.
To my estimate, if administered, evaluated, and improved properly, this effort will later be marked in history (as soon as within a 10 to 15 years) as a turning point in the improved conditions of quality of life in the Portsmouth community and its environs.
It is also my prediction that, if, and only if, this initiative receives the support that it so well deserves, and those who are tasked to administer and support it undertake their responsibilities with a sense of urgency, seriousness, pride, integrity, faith, hope, love, and yes, …..patriotism, within the next couple decades, Portsmouth will have emerged as a striking example of peace and tranquility with a successful model that will serve as a blueprint for several communities within Dominica and beyond. I can assure you of that.
I can also assure you that, should this initiative NOT receive the support that it so well deserves, and those who are tasked to administer and support it DO NOT undertake their responsibilities with a sense of urgency, seriousness, pride, integrity, faith, hope, love, and yes,….. patriotism (putting nation before selfish self interests), within the next couple of decades, Portsmouth will have realized compromises in quality of life, and experiences of violence and discord that it has never seen with such boldness and to such extent throughout its history – especially in the history of its girls and women.
Why will that be the case? The answer is simple – considering the path of the recent history of quality of life issues and crime and violence in this wonderful town, Portsmouth is at a critical turning point with a very short window to act and take charge of its future. This is a short window of opportunity, at this phase of its history and its social/economic/political development – and the wider social/economic/political development of Dominica, The Caribbean Region, and the world as a whole.
The developments are all tied to each other, at one level or another. Therefore, at this point in time, if this plan of the Portsmouth Community Watch Foundation does not work, it will take several decades before something better, or even equivalent, emerges with the level of hope, enthusiasm, and promise that is shown within the current plan of which we speak today.
If you doubt what I am saying, I will remind you that it has been about 12 years and 8 months since I first became involve with assisting the wonderful people of Portsmouth with the goal of creating a strategy as we have finalized today. The efforts on the ground in Portsmouth had begun long before members of the Portsmouth community invited me to assist them while I was initially assisting residents of another wonderful Dominica community, Grand Bay, during 1996.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I close by asking all of you within the sound of this message, to, at this moment, renew your citizenship – to become this new person who embraces improved quality of life and peacemaking with a sense of urgency that you have never had before.
Instead of being frightened about how bad conditions are currently, please be more concerned about how bad things could have been if all of you, all of us, were not doing – behind the scenes, the wonderful things that we have done to make a difference. Now, just imagine what the difference will be if we made those efforts collaboratively, without wasting time and resources over duplication of efforts or working in our own corners in division --- divisions that result from conflicts that have emerged over misunderstandings of simple facts.
I therefore, call on all of you, all of us, to begin, from today, giving birth to, and nurturing, a new social breed of human beings – the ones that embody the spirit that the Portsmouth Community Watch Foundation is yearning for in its bylaws– “safety, security, peace of mind, tranquility, and overall quality of life.” Please join the effort to do this in the Portsmouth community, and beyond.
I look forward to seeing the positive side of my predictions come true, and encourage each one of you, each one of us, to diligently play our role.
Remember, the life that you save… the child that YOU save..may well be your own.
With much Love
Dr. Peter Keith Bennett St. Jean
From Trafalgar.
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PORTSMOUTH WATCH
