DPM Hyde: There’s No Overnight Solution to Crime Situation in Lake I

Cordel Hyde

So what is the solution for the situation in Lake I? DPM Cordel Hyde says that there are many factors over time that have led to the current state of affairs and that the solution has to be methodical. Minister Hyde says that mediation should be done in the short term.

Cordel Hyde, Area Representative, Lake Independence

“This is a thirty plus-year problem you know, so you’re not going to deal with this overnight. This has to be very methodical. There is no problem in this country that education cannot solve, that education cannot fix. And I think that has to be our priority to make sure that children go to school, make sure they stay in school – make sure they graduate from high school and even sixth forth – because the truth of the matter is that it is far less likely that a person who graduate from high school or sixth form is going to kill someone or is going to get killed. It’s not just to stay in school, it is what you learn in schools: the values, the attitudes you inculcate in our students because at the end of the day we want for them to be good citizens, we want for them to be critical thinkers, we want for them to be able to solve problems peacefully without having to resort to violence. But it is more than that. We have to get back to an aggressive campaign where we make sure that the truancy program is active; make sure that all over the streets school-aged kids are not roaming; are not in school when they should be in school. It is really that simple. In the immediate, we have to continue with the mediation. I am a big William Dawson Junior fan. I believe we have to give him and his people the support to mediate and get things done. Ultimately, we have to do a better job as a government of pooling our resources, integrating our efforts, unifying our efforts across the ministries that can positively impact our youths – whether it is to make sure they go to school, make sure they can get a piece of land, make sure they can get a decent house, make sure they can get a little job, make sure they can have access to proper healthcare. That’s all our people want. Our people from the south side aren’t different from other people from across the country. It’s a fundamental lack of understanding of what our people have been through. And when you begin to understand what our people have been through, then you will understand that people want the same things.”