Police watchdog sought American aid

Struggling to deal with the problem of corruption in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Police (Civilian) Oversight Authority (PCOA) in 2007 turned to the Americans for help to weed out senior members of the force who were tarnishing the reputation of the organisation.

According to a confidential diplomatic cable dated March 19, 2007, members of the PCOA requested a meeting with US embassy officials on March 13 to explore possible assistance from the American government for its operations.

This followed an earlier meeting where a US Embassy official had told members of the PCOA that corruption was widespread in the police force and it did not meet international standards in terms of professionalism.

The cable stated that members of the authority were looking for advice on mechanisms through which they could pressure the leadership of the force to take action on corruption.

The cable also alleged that a senior member of the PCOA was looking for help to weed out corrupt police recommended for promotion.

"He asked whether we could vet … JCF officers proposed for promotion. The requests would be confined only to those of a rank of superintendent and above - probably a total of 10 a year," the cable stated.

The document indicated that the member further suggested that the two bodies would benefit from confidential briefings by the embassy on subjects like polygraphing.

"If the embassy were to vet senior JCF officers up for promotion, that would be done confidentially. This is something we can try to do to prevent promotion of officers who we have reason to believe are corrupt. Apparently (others) are already doing this but the PSC (Police Service Commission) would like US input as well," commented an embassy official in the cable.

forced retirement

The cable further stated that the PSC was trying to persuade then Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas to recommend that police officers be "retired in the public interest" as part of the effort to clean up the force.

"The PSC is prepared to endorse such recommendations but the commissioner is dragging his feet," the embassy official also claimed in the cable.

"At the PCOA meeting (members) urged the US Embassy to encourage Thomas to utilise the tactic in conjunction with his avowed anti-corruption stance," the cable said.

According to the cable, during a private meeting with embassy officials, a PCOA member disclosed that he did not trust some senior members of the JCF because of seeming opposition by at least one of them to having an international police officer fill a position.

That post was subsequently filled by British policeman Justin Felice.

The other senior policemen reportedly passed a polygraph test administered in Trinidad in 2007 as part of security measures for the ICC Cricket World Cup.