Security experts praise leadership of commish

A trio of private-security experts have given Police Commissioner Kevin Blake high marks for his handling of the security portfolio a year into the new administration of Andrew Holness, as Jamaica records a 24 per cent reduction in murders up to October 6 compared with the same period in 2025, marking the lowest level of violent crime in more than three decades.

Speaking at a recent forum examining crime statistics a year after the Jamaica Labour Party’s general election victory, Commander George Overton, Professor Anthony Clayton and Dr Jason McKay praised Blake for winning the confidence of the men and women under his command, something they said not all his predecessors had achieved. They credited this with improving morale at all levels of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Overton, chairman of the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s Standing Committee on National Security and Justice, said the use of technology and successful recruitment under Blake had strengthened the force’s ability to police the entire island.

“The introduction of technology, effective and efficient use of technology are evident, the equipment being provided for the force to function optimally. Most importantly, for the first time, certainly in my lifetime, the JCF is up to its established strength, having the number of police officers to properly fulfill their roles in communities, so we now have a saturation of officers across the island,” noted Overton, a former director of operations for Guardsman Group Limited and president of the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security.

Clayton, lead author of Jamaica’s 2014 National Security Policy, who also led the 2015 operational review of the JCF and an assessment of citizen security in the Caribbean for the Commonwealth Secretariat, agreed that technology had helped improve the force’s performance under Blake.

“The use of technology has been a tremendous boost,” Clayton said, adding that it had contributed to “higher morale and motivation of the force, which is probably at its highest ever point”.

While Clayton expressed concern about the rate of fatal police shootings, McKay and Overton echoed National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang’s position that the increase was a consequence of intensified operations against gun-toting criminals. They argued that increased contact with armed criminals had led to more gun battles, during which properly equipped and trained police officers had gained the upper hand, resulting in the seizure of multiple high-calibre firearms.

McKay, a criminologist, serving member of the JCF and chief executive officer of McKay Security Limited, described Blake’s leadership as “a study in motivation”.

“I believe it is an extremely motivated police force undergoing unprecedented levels of motivation, carrying out a well-put-together crime plan by Commissioner Blake. Similar to what Commander Overton noted, I have also never seen the police force this large. I have also never seen the police force all behind one plan, which is to conduct operations with the aim of reducing the homicide rate,” McKay said.

“It is a totally different JCF world. No more than 20 years ago, the police were carrying guns, which were already 20 years old. Police officers are now equipped with modern weaponry, pistols and submachine guns, comparable to any police force in the world,” said McKay, a member of the St Catherine South Division’s Special Operations team.