- PHOTO BY HERBERT MCKENIS
Corporal Raymond Wilson, chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, addressing the annual conference of the Jamaica Police Federation held at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay last week.
Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
SENIOR OFFICERS in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) want the commissioner to act now to weed out corrupt cops from the force.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Leon Rose, chairman of the Police Officers' Association (POA), charged that wherever there was evidence of corruption within the ranks of the police force, those persons must be dealt with in accordance with the law.
"This is something that the two previous commissioners have been talking about," said ACP Rose. "In the past, a number of these persons have been charged and taken before the court. Some have gone through the JCF's disciplinary process and others are awaiting a ruling from the Director of Public Prosecutions."
He further explained that Commissioner Lucius Thomas was encouraging rank-and-file officers to become 'whistle-blowers' on corruption. According to Mr. Rose, they must become intolerant of officers who break the law.
The POA represents police officers ranked assistant superintendents upwards.
NO BACKING
Meanwhile, corrupt cops who think that they will get the backing of the Police Federation which represents rank-and-file policemen and policewomen will have to find other means of representation.
In his address to the over 140 delegates at the Police Federation's 62nd annual general meeting, Chairman, Corporal Raymond Wilson, warned that the federation would not be using its funds to defend these cops. At the root of corruption were both junior and senior officers.
"The central executive of the federation will be meeting to discuss the matter further," Cpl. Wilson told The Sunday Gleaner
He stressed that the Police Federation has a zero-tolerance policy towards corrupt cops. The sub-officer said they were a threat to citizens and an even greater threat to the hardworking men and women in the JCF.
Three days after his startling revelation that the police force was rife with corrupt cops, Commissioner Thomas says it will take more than just intelligence to convict delinquent members.
Commissioner Thomas believes a recommendation made in the Private Sector of Jamaica (PSOJ) Emancipation Park declaration, calling for the implementation of a police oversight body to monitor the performance of the police force, is an appropriate step to weed out rogue cops.
DEEP CORRUPTION
"The police oversight body is expected to make recommendations, which as police commissioner, I will have to act on," said Mr. Thomas.
Speaking at the federation's conference, held on Wednesday at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort Hotel in Montego Bay, St. James, the commissioner disclosed that members of the police force were involved in deep corruption.
The types of criminal activities that some police personnel are accused of range from selling bullets to other criminals in the underworld; leaking vital information to them; smuggling narcotics; and, using service vehicles to carry out all sorts of illegal activities.
The Professional Standards Branch (PSB) is probing several members of the JCF who have been implicated in acts of corruption, the commissioner said.
He told The Sunday Gleaner, "The PSB are now acting on the intelligence available to them."
The commissioner promised the rank-and-file officers that they will be made aware of the negative comments on their files.
"Too many officers have suffered because of negative comments written on their files, based on allegations and without the matter being investigated," said Mr. Thomas.
In their declaration, the PSOJ had proposed changes which would allow for police officers who no longer enjoyed the confidence of the commissioner to be retired in the public interest, but Commissioner Thomas does not agree with this proposal.
He said if the commissioner of the day did not like an individual, then he could easily get rid of that individual unfairly.
He insisted that only a few members of the JCF were corrupt, and a majority of the officers were hardworking men and women.
