The Police were very much in the news last week, not that the Constabulary Force is ever out of the news for long over controversial issues.
The long-awaited ruling of the Director of Public Prosecutions on the controversial killing of four persons at Kraal in Clarendon on May 7 last year has been finally released. The DPP has ruled that six members of the now disbanded Crime Management Unit are to answer to criminal charges arising out of that incident. The nation will follow with keen interest the process and outcome of that trial.
On Wednesday, in a function filled with pomp and circumstance at The Jamaica Conference Centre, the Police Federation presented to Commissioner Francis Forbes a proposal recommending a 40-hour work week for its members. The surprising proposal has the Commissioner's support and the Government has been given three months to respond. We are not aware of any exemption of the police from the standard 40-hour work week established in Jamaican labour law. Is the proposal a request for the law to be applied; or is it a call for an exemption to be removed? In the nature of police work fixed hours on shifts are not always possible but the Federation is claiming that some police officers are detailed to work up to 72 hours per week. Clearly this is a matter requiring speedy and fair resolution.
Earlier in the week we reported that a number of Superintendents have been issued warning letters from the Administration Department of the Force which is headed by DCP Jevene Bent, on the instruction of the Commissioner.
Slackness of management and poor accountability are among the serious problems dogging the Police Force. Commissioner Forbes has taken the belated decision that "this is the year for the highest standards of accountability by commanding officers." The Superintendents written to are those whose assessments for last year fell far below average. Some of the officers who have not shown any sign of improvement have already been relieved of their posts.
Effective crime management and fulfilling the pledge of the JCF "to protect, to serve and to reassure" is going to require an even greater departure from the centralised command and control approach which the disbanded CMU represented. Area and divisional commanders, indeed officers in charge of stations, must be assigned direct responsibility and be held accountable for managing their zone of operation and keeping crime under control.
Overstretch from excessively long hours will not help the cause but is, in fact, counter-productive. The authorities must tighten up management and bring work hours in line with the law.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
