Army love affair - UNDP survey shows Jamaicans have high regard for soldiers

Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter

While Jamaica's police continue to face difficulty courting the people it has sworn to protect, serve and reassure, the military is enjoying a love affair with the majority of Jamaicans.

The 2012 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Caribbean Human Development Report on Citizen Security has revealed that 65.1 per cent of Jamaicans agreed that the Government should rely more on the military to reduce crime.

Of the seven Caribbean nations polled, Jamaica recorded the highest level of support for increased reliance on the military in the fight against crime.

"The range was from a low of 25.5 per cent in Barbados to a high of 65.1 per cent in Jamaica. The two nations with the highest homicide rates, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, also show the highest level of citizen support for military involvement in reducing crime," read a section of the report.

The UNDP report stated that there were several explanations for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago recording the highest levels of citizen support for military involvement in crime reduction.

"First, in both nations, there appears to be a common sentiment that the police and other criminal justice agencies are unable to keep up with the challenges of fighting particularly violent crime carried out by street gangs and organised crime groups.

"Second, since none of these nations are currently at war, the military is likely perceived as a slack resource that is on the payroll, armed and ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Third, in nations in which the armed forces are viewed with significantly more confidence than the police, the military may be viewed as a more viable option for containing crime and violence," the report said.

The survey also referenced a 2010 opinion poll carried out in Jamaica that examined public trust in 11 institutions. The results, again, highlighted the country's love affair with the servicemen and women in camouflage and the lack of confidence for men and women in blue and red stripes.

"On a scale with a potential range of 0 to 100, the army came in first, with a score of 65.9. The Supreme Court ranked fourth, with a score of 51.3; and the police ranked last, with a score of 32.6."

In an article published last week, the 2012 UNDP Caribbean Human Development Report on Citizen Security revealed that Jamaicans do not believe the police can break the back of gang violence.

Confidence levels

According to the UNDP survey, only 23.4 per cent of respondents expressed 'high' and 'very high' confidence levels in the police force's ability to effectively control gang violence.

Only three of the seven Caribbean nations included in the survey - Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, and Guyana - had lower confidence levels than Jamaica. Barbados boasted the highest level of optimism with 39 per cent of Bajan respondents having high and very high perceptions in their police's capability to control gang violence.

Trinidad and Tobago wore the badge of shame among the Caribbean seven, with only 9.9 per cent of respondents expressing high or very high confidence in the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service's ability to control gang violence on the twin-island republic.

The UN study also disclosed that Jamaicans' support for a military government was nothing to sneeze at. Asked to indicate their level of agreement with the idea that "only a military government can effectively combat crime", some 23.5 per cent of Jamaicans said they agreed with the notion.

"Across the Caribbean-7, only about 15.3 per cent of the respondents agreed. The range was from 9.7 per cent in Barbados to 23.5 per cent in Jamaica.

"These rather low levels of agreement, with only minor variations across countries, show that Caribbean citizens are not in favour of establishing military governments to facilitate crime control," the report said.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com