Arresting rot in the JCF
DURING THE nearly 14 years that I have lived in Jamaica, the murder rate has been running at an average of 1,400 per year. Since 2005 when I arrived, about 20,000 have become victims of homicide.
If we don’t get the police functioning, fit for purpose, trusted, professional and effective, all the social intervention programmes, improvements in education, job creation and housing will not be enough. First and foremost, we must fix the police. They are our first line of defence. If we don’t have an effective police service supported by a justice system that works, we can expect another 20,000 murders in the next 14 years.
You know about the reputation of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Allegations of corruption, death squads, organised fatal shootings, nepotism, police involved directly with criminals, including intelligence that senior officers have been complicit in allowing drugs to be trafficked with massive pay-offs to the senior cops, who, in turn, paid the lower ranks for their escort duties. In 2007, a specialist unit was polygraphed with the support of a US law-enforcement agency and more than 60 per cent of the police investigators on that unit failed.
So, it’s fair to say that criticism of the JCF is justified, and easy, but in fact, I think it’s important to look behind that bleak picture and understand why they are in such poor shape and get so much bad press.
The bottom line is that despite numerous recommendations, the JCF has, for the most part, remained a dysfunctional organisation that has been reluctant to change on its own and has not been given enough external influence from successive governments to force that change.
Despite recommendations and assurances in the past, the police have a uniform that is not fit for purpose in the 21st century. They are not given the basic equipment to do their jobs: utility belt with flashlight, pepper spray, handcuffs, an expandable baton and body armour. They don’t even have radios that enable them to talk to their colleagues and control.
Only in the last two years has there been any real increase in the Budget for the JCF. I believe there has been a realisation by this Government that if the police do not get the resources, they cannot function.
Total reform is the only way in which it can become a police service that may win the trust and confidence of the people of Jamaica. Without their buy-in, the gap of distrust will remain.
Rebadging will not be enough. The people of Jamaica will see through that and nothing will change. There is a need for the transformation to include effective management and accountability.
GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT
The basic practices of policing that have been adopted across the policing world are not always at work in Jamaica. When a person is arrested and charged with a crime, what are the three events that you can guarantee will happen in the US?
1. The suspect is photographed.
2. The suspect’s fingerprints are taken.
3. The suspect’s DNA sample is taken. The biodata are digitally stored. The samples are cross-referenced on a police or forensic lab’s database, and the outcome of that search will:
Confirm the identity of the prisoner.
Reveal other names previously used by this person.
Cross-reference the prisoner’s biodata against all unidentified fingerprints and DNA samples recovered from crime scenes.
Not in Jamaica. Even though this simple recording of a suspect’s biodata is probably the most important action after arrest and charge, it is not done as a matter of course. So, the golden opportunity to identify the suspect and link him or her to other crimes is being lost.
Would you believe it if I told you that currently there is no legislation to support the taking of fingerprints of a suspect charged with a crime without either the authority of a superintendent or on the order of a court?
And, currently, there are only five automated fingerprint identification services machines across the island.
The lack of consistency in law is also a concern. As I have already mentioned, the Fingerprint Act requires a superintendent’s authority for fingerprints and photographs to be taken. But, under the DNA legislation, it is only the authority of a sergeant that is required for a sample to be taken. In most jurisdictions, the fact that a person has been charged is enough authority for biodata to be taken, overseen by the custody sergeant or an equivalent.
For some inexplicable reason, and despite recommendations from international police officers, consultants and other partners, conducting the most simple and effective activities that reap the largest benefits in the detection of crime is simply not done, and in most cases the equipment is not available to do them.
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Improving the governance structures and systems of accountability of the police should be one of Jamaica’s key legislative priorities. The current system of shared responsibilities between the Public Service Commission and the Police Civilian Oversight Authority is failing to fully provide a performance framework to deliver effectively and efficiently a police service at community levels.
There is an urgent need to capture a more progressive and robust approach to police accountability and governance issues and focus on the enhancement of the role of a police authority to make policing more accountable to local communities.
Any transformation of the JCF will include a significant budget to send people home. Either because they are no longer required or they have lost the confidence of the commissioner and Police Authority.
We need a state-of-the-art police service that the people of Jamaica can trust. That will require tough decisions and legislative change that will allow the commissioner of police, based on intelligence, to rid the JCF of anyone he or she considers corrupt or not fit for any other reason to hold office.
I do not expect these individuals to starve or go away empty-handed. I’d be happy to see a reasonable redundancy package and pension. I want to know that if the commissioner of police has lost confidence in you, he or she has the ability to remove you from office.
This must be supported by a Police Authority with the requisite powers to hold the police service accountable and have a line of communication with the citizens of Jamaica and be able to hold the commissioner and senior officers accountable for their performance.
VISIBLE LEADERSHIP
Successive governments have proclaimed to be the party against crime, but having won elections, we have not seen the type of visible leadership that we are now experiencing with the Andrew Holness administration.
I think Jamaicans get a sense that this prime minister really means business. He has thrown all his political capital into reducing crime and restoring order. It has been the PM, not the minister of national security, who has stood squarely at the forefront of states of emergency and zones of special operations. It is the PM who appears to speak in earnest about bringing the 30year wait for the transformation of the JCF to fruition.
Since the declaration of the state of emergency in St James, murder rates have been reduced from an all-time high in 2016-17 to levels not seen since 2002-03.
We need to see the same political maturity and consensus we have seen in the economic recovery. The collective work of Audley Shaw, Dr Peter Phillips and Dr Nigel Clarke must be duplicated in our fight against the crime monster.
Crime cannot be a political football. The criminals must see that the politicians are at one.