Dear Editor,
Stunned! That is the only word that I can use to describe my state when I learned that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) were two different entities with different command structures, separate offices and even separate administrations. I recently learned that the proposal for a merger was made almost a decade ago and, finally, is now being realised.
Maybe it is my overt optimism that has propelled me to welcome this merger, since I am expecting that murder and violent criminal activities will hit the downward trajectory. It was only recently the United Nations released its 2013 report on drugs and crime, which ranked Jamaica as having the sixth highest murder rate in the world.
It would appear that Jamaica's fight against drugs and organised crime has remained at a standstill after all these years of efforts to combat the monster.
It was only two years ago that Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington addressed the 25th Annual General Conference of the ISCF Officers' Associations and said that a merger could prove favourable as "whatever benefits that accrue to the JCF, in terms of modernisation, capacity-building, leadership development and such the like, will be available to all of us because we will all be members of the same organisation".
Going forward, it is imperative that we highlight how the merger will make the police organisation more effective in terms of general policing objectives. This reform process must attack areas that prevent us from realising our developmental goals while allowing us to achieve measurable and sustainable results given the institutional strenghtening.
Hopefully there is the political will to pursue the reform over the long term. The merger should not just be another IMF structural adjustment move for cost-savings; it should help heal our country.
Jevon Minto
jminto10@stu.ncu.edu.jm
Excellent timing for JCF/ISCF merger
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Stunned! That is the only word that I can use to describe my state when I learned that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) were two different entities with different command structures, separate offices and even separate administrations. I recently learned that the proposal for a merger was made almost a decade ago and, finally, is now being realised.
Maybe it is my overt optimism that has propelled me to welcome this merger, since I am expecting that murder and violent criminal activities will hit the downward trajectory. It was only recently the United Nations released its 2013 report on drugs and crime, which ranked Jamaica as having the sixth highest murder rate in the world.
It would appear that Jamaica's fight against drugs and organised crime has remained at a standstill after all these years of efforts to combat the monster.
It was only two years ago that Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington addressed the 25th Annual General Conference of the ISCF Officers' Associations and said that a merger could prove favourable as "whatever benefits that accrue to the JCF, in terms of modernisation, capacity-building, leadership development and such the like, will be available to all of us because we will all be members of the same organisation".
Going forward, it is imperative that we highlight how the merger will make the police organisation more effective in terms of general policing objectives. This reform process must attack areas that prevent us from realising our developmental goals while allowing us to achieve measurable and sustainable results given the institutional strenghtening.
Hopefully there is the political will to pursue the reform over the long term. The merger should not just be another IMF structural adjustment move for cost-savings; it should help heal our country.
Jevon Minto
jminto10@stu.ncu.edu.jm
Excellent timing for JCF/ISCF merger
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