We are very heartened that students and staff from the Denham Town Primary and High School participated in Friday's candlelight ceremony for two murdered policemen at the Denham Town Police Station, as reported in Saturday's STAR.

The two constables, Cornell Grant and Delano Lawrence, were slaughtered while on patrol in Trench Town in late May.

It is significant that the students participated in the memorial, as more than likely some of them would be from the area in which the policemen were killed, as well as other areas in the domain of the Denham Town Police Station. And, to put it mildly, these areas have often had a less than harmonious relationship with the security forces.

It is in times of crisis that gestures of reaching out count most, as small as they may be in terms of the material. And Friday's candles and songs at the Denham Town Police Station, ahead of Sunday's funeral service and burial of the two policemen, went a long way towards mending feelings between the lawmen and citizens.

This is a follow-up of sorts to the immediate protests of residents against the killings and continues to speak to the fact that even while the gunmen and the police are at deadly odds, there is a significant proportion of the communities, deemed 'bad' areas, which simply want a peaceful life.