Commentary

Distressed colleagues and grieving family members have been reflecting on the tragic events which led to the drowning of a policeman, Vincent Bent, and the injuring of a colleague as a police party pursued alleged criminals near the Rio Cobre on Thursday.

It is a fact that members of the security forces are exposed to greater risk in their jobs than the majority of the workforce. And it is for that reason that police personnel should be able to make a proper assessment of the health and safety risks associated with any operation.

In this case, was an assessment done on the scene to take into account the skill of the police officers, their training, and experience? For example, were these men able to swim?

While it is not possible to bring back the policeman, the painful question facing the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) must be how to prevent something like this from ever happening again.

Overall, health and fitness is something the Police Federation should take seriously by agitating for gyms and fitness machines to be installed at stations to encourage officers to stay in shape. Given the ramshackle condition of many police stations, this may not be a realistic demand at this time. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that healthy employees are more productive. Perhaps discounts could be arranged for police personnel at community gyms.

Training quality

The JCF will, undoubtedly, take away some lessons from that tragic incident in the Rio Cobre. Already, a debate is raging about the quality of training received by policemen and policewomen, and opinions are likely to differ on whether the ability to swim should be a requirement in the JCF. We submit that swimming ought to be introduced as part of the curriculum at the Police Academy. Apart from the obvious health benefits, it is a skill which would serve the men and women of the force in meeting their fitness goals.

There are, in fact, some police departments that make it mandatory for their members to be able to swim as part of a fitness regimen. We don't know how physically fit these officers were, but we recognise that physical fitness is important for the hazardous job of policing, especially when trying to keep up with a wily offender.

We assume that the JCF has established medical and physical fitness standards for its members. But are there annual fitness tests? Are there consequences for failing them? Are there incentives for meeting these targets?

While many policemen and policewomen appear to be in good shape, from time to time we have observed officers with protruding stomachs hanging over their belts. This does not present a good image for the JCF.

One good that can come from this tragedy is for every member of the force to take a critical look at himself to determine the condition of his body and make the decision to improve his fitness level.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.