Lead Stories

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

THE Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has defended the role of Courtesy Corps officers deployed across the island's resort towns.

The defence comes in the wake of criticism from stakeholders in Ocho Rios, St Ann, that the Courtesy Corps had been ineffective in the resort town.

"We are getting value for money," Earl Patrick, the executive director of TPDCo, told The Gleaner on Monday.

Jamaica spent $93 million last year on the Courtesy Corps. The allocation this year has been reduced to $80 million, and is used to pay private security giant, Guardsman, for the 150 personnel they deploy.

The performance of the Courtesy Corps came in for stinging criticism at a recently held Gleaner Editors' Forum in Ocho Rios, but Patrick has shot back, saying TPDCo was "extremely satisfied with the performance".

Late last month, stakeholders in St Ann said the Courtesy Corps was not effective in curbing harassment in the town.

Kumar Sujanani, vice-president of the In-bond Merchants' Association of St Mary, St Ann and Trelawny, said the Courtesy Corps in St Ann was "just decoration".

"I am of the view that the Courtesy Corps are afraid of these boys and they are afraid to approach them. So, as to their validity and their effectiveness, it does not require a rocket scientist to conclude that they are completely ineffective," Sujanani said, as he spoke of drug peddlers and others who harass tourists.

Superintendent Gary Griffiths, the commanding officer for St Ann, said the Courtesy Corps was not the kind of unit that could bring the feel of safety to Ocho Rios.

"The guys who are in Ocho Rios do not fear the bold white hat and the white shirt. What they need is the kind of police that will make them take away themselves when they see them," Griffiths said in relation to crime problems facing the resort town.

But Monday, Patrick said the Courtesy Corps was in place "to enhance the tourism product and to ensure that the visitor, whether local or foreign, is given adequate protection against harassment".

It is a role Captain Everton Phillips, manager of the Courtesy Corps, believes the men and women under his command are performing admirably.

"We have achieved a significant reduction in the levels of harassment reported. Prior to taking up our duties in December 2008, we had information provided to us that the levels of harassment in the resort areas, primarily Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, were in the region of 58 per cent.

"The last survey that we had done in August of last year saw reported harassment in the region of one per cent," Phillips, an ex-army officer, said.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by TPDCo among local operators last year found that 65 per cent of operators in Ocho Rios felt that the presence of the Courtesy Corps caused a reduction in harassment.

The nod of approval was greater in Montego Bay, a western Jamaica city, where 82 per cent of those surveyed said the courtesy officers have led to a decrease in harassment. The corps' approval ratings were 75 per cent in Negril, further west, and 100 per cent in Kingston, the island's capital.

The survey found that 49 per cent of guests complained about harassment. It also found that 73 per cent of those surveyed said they felt the levels of harassment have declined because of the Courtesy Corps' presence. In fact, 87 per cent of respondents said the programme should not be abandoned.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com