Support commish re dress code

The Editor, Sir:

We should all give our support to Owen Ellington, the commissioner of police, as he moves to enforce rules and regulations governing the mode of dress for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). The commissioner recently laid down guidelines for the way members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force should dress, especially when they are in uniform.

We should commend the commissioner of police for this decision. I think we all agreed that for too long members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force have been allowed to dress any how they want. This has, on several occasions, created difficulty for the public in identifying members of the JCF from criminals.

The mode of dress of members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force falls in three broad categories. The first is uniform. A uniform mode of dress should not be difficult to understand because the word uniform is self-explanatory. The important rule where dressing in uniform is concerned is that no one should be allowed to make additions to or subtraction from the uniform. Thus, a person wearing excessive jewellery or a male wearing earring is an addition to the uniform, and since uniform means together or look alike, strictly speaking that person is not 'in uniform'.

Full uniform

In the same vein, a member of the force who, while dressed in uniform, fails to wear the full uniform by say, wearing a shirt different from the regulation shirt, is not 'in uniform'.

Perhaps, more importantly, members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force should be urged to wear their uniform with pride and always bear in mind that an officer in a clean, neat and well-fitted uniform commands the respect of the public and generates in the minds of the public a sense of confidence in that officer.

The second mode of dress is civilian. The main category of officers who are authorised and permitted to dress in civilian attire are members of the Criminal Investigating Branch. These officers, however, must bear in mind that even though they are allowed to dress in civilian attire, it does not mean that they are authorised to dress anyhow. When they attend court, for example, they should be neatly dressed in blazer or lounge suit and should wear a sober pair of dress shoes, properly cleaned. When not attending court but performing other duties they should nonetheless dress properly and not carry themselves like a bunch of indisciplined wrongdoers. The wearing of goggles-type dark classes, tams and balaclavas should not be permitted.

Third mode of dress

The third mode of dress is that for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force who do undercover work. In the case of these officers, the mode of dress is determined by the task they perform and the category of persons that they are targeting. Properly, an undercover cop targeting the banking and business sector might be required to dress in blazers or lounge suit 24/7. If information is being gathered at a construction site the undercover cop might be required to dress in a construction worker overall and protective helmet. If he is targeting a group of drug smugglers, he will have to study the way they dress and dress like them so that he becomes incognito.

It is in our collective interest for the commissioner of police to enforce the dress code for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and we should insist that it is enforced.

I am, etc.,

LINTON P. GORDON

lpgordon@cwjamaica.com