he Police High Command is making inroads in weeding out corrupt cops from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), with an increasing number of policemen being arrested for corruption.

 Since the start of the year, at least 20 policemen have been arrested for breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act, a feat that Assistant Commissioner of Police Justin Felice, who is in charge of the Anti-Corruption Branch, said is an indication that the force is moving in the right direction.

The Anti-Corruption Branch evolved from the Professional Standards Branch, which had responsibility for investigating complaints against the police, as well as anti-corruption.

The figures have given credence to the view that corruption is rife in the JCF, which has the responsibility of upholding the law.  The list of offences by corrupt cops is varied and includes larceny, robbery and soliciting bribes.  In recent weeks over six policemen have been arrested for taking bribes from civilians, especially motorists.  

Four weeks ago a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) was nabbed in Clarendon during a sting operation.  The special constable was charged with accepting a bribe to drop a court case against a motorist.

According to reports the constable charged the motorist for a traffic offence and offered to drop the charge if the motorist paid him $3,000.  A sting operation was organised and the policeman was allegedly caught accepting the bribe.

Two weeks earlier, Constable Keffin Murray, who is attached to the Spanish Town Police Station, was also charged with breaches of the anti-corruption act for soliciting bribes from a motorist. 

It is alleged that on March 28, the policeman was on duty on Burke Road in Spanish Town, when he stopped a motorist who had reportedly committed a traffic offence.

The motorists car was seized and a wrecker operator was asked to move the vehicle to a pound.  Murray and the wrecker operator allegedly asked the motorist for $5,500 for the vehicle to be released.  The driver reported the matter to the Police Office of Professional Responsibility and both men were arrested.  

The JCF has implemented a one-year plan aimed at deterring corrupt cops in the force and ultimately reducing the incidents of corruption.  ACP Felice said the main aim of the programme was to increase the fear of detection among policemen.

We are moving from a reactive type of organisation to a proactive type of organisation, he said, adding that they are also trying to improve confidence with the public.

We make sure that the information we get is treated confidentially, he said, adding that they were moving to provide protection for policemen who report wrongdoing.

Low conviction rate
The successes gained in just four months of the implementation of the anti-corruption plan have far outweighed that of previous years, as only in 2006 were the total number of arrests for the year higher than 20.  In that year a total of 26 persons were arrested.

In the four months, I think progress is being made, but we should not be complacent, ACP Felice said.

Over the last five years, a total of 82 persons have been arrested for breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act.  The lowest number of arrests was six made in 2005, while 2007 and 2004 recorded 11 arrests each.  In 2003, 15 persons were arrested. 

Despite the moderate number of arrests made, however, the rate of conviction has been extremely low.  Of the 82 persons arrested in the last five years, only 20 persons have been convicted.  A significant number of cases have also been dismissed.  In 2006, over 50 per cent of cases were dismissed, a total of 15.  The statistics show that the situation was the same for 2004, when seven of the 11 cases brought before the courts were dismissed, and in 2003 when eight of the 15 cases were dismissed.

Sources in the JCF said the low conviction rate could bring into question the quality of the investigations undertaken into corruption cases.

We have to be careful that we do not make a bad situation worse, the source said.

Dangerous thing
Some policemen have justified the practice of taking bribes on the meager salaries that they get, but this reasoning has been considered flawed by many in the JCF.
    It is always a dangerous thing to link levels of pay and possible corruption because you basically would have to acknowledge something that is not necessarily true, and that is that levels of poverty would equal levels of crime, said Corporal Hartley Stewart, general secretary of the Police Federation.
    He conceded, however, that the harsh economic climate makes some members of the JCF vulnerable.
    We still have to acknowledge that we have policemen who are at risk or vulnerable as a result of the economic pressures that they are facing.  They are not going out there to be corrupt, but given an opportunity, they become vulnerable, he said.