Dear Editor,
In view of the disconcerting reports I hear and read about incidents involving officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), I am daily finding it increasingly difficult to believe it is a credible outfit.
These reports include allegations that 258 civilians lost their lives in 2013 in incidents involving the security force, and that these fatalities included shootings, stabbings and deaths in custody.
Four police officers were arrested in Falmouth for the alleged assault of Kamoza Clarke. In the JCF’s Area 3, one police officer has been charged for allegeded murder and conspiracy to murder, and there are reports alleging evidence in custody being tampered with. There are also allegations concerning the extent to which some members of the JCF will go to ensure a conviction. These are just allegations but we can’t merely turn a blind eye.
If we are looking at a force that is corrupt and one in which the public has lost confidence, should we be investing large sums of money in it? Shouldn’t we reform or have them clean up their act before any further investment? It seems added legislation and technology is a waste of time and money if we don’t first fix the issues. Let us have the courage to say out loud that we will never have an effective JCF unless it is first established as a disciplined law enforcement body. We cannot continue to speak behind closed doors of the JCF’s alleged corruption, then adopt an attitude that this is what we have so let us make the best of it, and somehow with time it will fix itself.
Give me a police force that is on bicycles, that has exercise books to log incidents, but is honest and respected, rather than one that drives the most modern vehicles, is equipped with body cameras and computers, but is corrupt and has lost the respect of most Jamaicans.
Colonel Allan Douglas Kingston 10 alldouglas@aol.com
In view of the disconcerting reports I hear and read about incidents involving officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), I am daily finding it increasingly difficult to believe it is a credible outfit.
These reports include allegations that 258 civilians lost their lives in 2013 in incidents involving the security force, and that these fatalities included shootings, stabbings and deaths in custody.
Four police officers were arrested in Falmouth for the alleged assault of Kamoza Clarke. In the JCF’s Area 3, one police officer has been charged for allegeded murder and conspiracy to murder, and there are reports alleging evidence in custody being tampered with. There are also allegations concerning the extent to which some members of the JCF will go to ensure a conviction. These are just allegations but we can’t merely turn a blind eye.
If we are looking at a force that is corrupt and one in which the public has lost confidence, should we be investing large sums of money in it? Shouldn’t we reform or have them clean up their act before any further investment? It seems added legislation and technology is a waste of time and money if we don’t first fix the issues. Let us have the courage to say out loud that we will never have an effective JCF unless it is first established as a disciplined law enforcement body. We cannot continue to speak behind closed doors of the JCF’s alleged corruption, then adopt an attitude that this is what we have so let us make the best of it, and somehow with time it will fix itself.
Give me a police force that is on bicycles, that has exercise books to log incidents, but is honest and respected, rather than one that drives the most modern vehicles, is equipped with body cameras and computers, but is corrupt and has lost the respect of most Jamaicans.
Colonel Allan Douglas Kingston 10 alldouglas@aol.com