The much-anticipated Strategic Review of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has snubbed calls for police commissioners to be empowered to hire and fire members of the force. Chairman of the six-member Strategic Review Panel, Dr. Herbert Thompson, said the review team did not see the necessity for the police chief to be given increased powers to hire and fire.

While the review panel did not single out for close examination the powers of the police chief and calls for increased powers as chief executive officer to hire and fire, it opted to go the route of examining the disciplinary structures within the force and giving greater powers and charge to the senior officers around the commissioner.  These include deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners, senior superintendents and superintendents.

Dr. Thompson stressed that throughout the report, the review team was cautious about putting too much powers in the hands of any one individual. The Police Commissioner himself also needs to be scrutinised regarding the powers exercised.  You might now have a laudable commissioner, but you can never tell the type of commissioner you might have in the future, therefore the powers given to him have to be curtailed, Dr Thompson stated.

When questioned about the claim by past commissioners that their hands were tied by the bureaucratic structures in the force regarding disciplining members, Dr. Thompson took issue with this claim, pointing to the evidence which suggested that past commissioners have not been using the laid down procedures to enforce discipline in the JCF.

How can you complain about your hands being tied when you have over 500 cases against members of the police force at all levels sitting at the desk of the Police High Command and not turn them over to the Police Services Commission or the Director of Public Prosecutions for action to be taken, asked Dr. Thompson, who is also president of Northern Caribbean University.

He referred to the Strategic Review Report titled, A New Era of Policing in Jamaica: Transforming the JCF, which stated, Despite the assembly of evidence and presentation of information to incriminate staff, the JCF has been less than diligent in submitting files to the Commissioner of Police, the PSC and DPP. In fact, the PSC reported that despite the hundreds of cases of police breaches over the last four years, only four files have been received from the Commissioner of Police requesting the PSC to advance disciplinary sanctions. The reported noted that this raised serious concerns about the internal accountability within the police force.

The Strategic Review Panel chairman stated that these findings informed the decision to strengthen the disciplinary structures and the senior personnel around the commissioner, rather than giving the police boss the power to hire and fire. 

According to the strategic review, the disciplinary system in the police force was ineffectually managed, and frequently and visibly circumvented by the JCF and is of little value. The review observed that the lack of discipline in the force was not as a result of inadequate regulations but rather the lack of proper management and enforcement.