Ellington tweaks crime plan: More cops to hit the streets
Published:Sunday | January 16, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Police Commissioner Owen Ellington has outlined new operating procedures to be implemented to further lower the country's crime rate.
Despite a 15 per cent reduction in murders last year, Ellington remains dissatisfied and has instructed divisional commanders to change several aspects of their day-to-day operations.
One such change is what Ellington describes as an 80:20 strategy.
This will see 80 per cent of the police men and women on the streets, and 20 per cent doing administrative duties.
"The aim is to slow the running train and bring the annual murder figure down to a manageable level," Ellington said in the latest Force Orders.
According to Ellington, the new strategy will attempt to minimise opportunities for criminals to commit murders.
This will be done through the high visibility of the police on the streets, and the occupation of critical spaces where crimes are committed.
"The structure of the typical geographic division will change to accommodate this, with the operations portfolio being up-graded and staffed according to the targeted ratio," said Ellington.
Additionally, the heads of eight key police geographic divisions will be upgraded to senior superintendent.
additional management
Under the new structure, all 19 police divisions will get additional management and supervisory personnel for operations.
Ellington said divisions, which will be headed by superintendents, will have a deputy superintendent in charge of operations, with three deputy or assistant superintendents as shift commanders.
In those divisions to be headed by a senior superintendent, the operations officer will be a superintendent of police, with three shift commanders at the rank of deputy or assistant superintendent of police.
Ellington has also decided that there should be changes in how police personnel are deployed.
"The common practice that sees divisions deploying resources based on a traditional three-shift system, equally distributed across time periods, has not been effective in addressing the issue of crime and violence," said Ellington.
He added: "Counter-policing deployment strategies are being easily developed and applied by criminals to avoid interfacing with police.
"There continues to be a void in divisions during shift changes and a depletion of patrol resources during the time periods that are most prone to violent crimes."
According to the police commissioner, while the three-shift system can be retained, it must be approached differently.
"The design of a shift system should be driven by a systematic analysis of the crime situation."
Ellington has suggested that in some divisions, it would be better to have two 12-hour shifts complemented by one eight-hour shift.
"The eight-hour shift will be an overlapping flexible one that will ensure that during a specific eight-hour period, the patrol output in the division will be at least doubled."
all-round decline
All major crimes - murders, shootings, rapes, carnal abuse, robberies, break-ins, and larceny - declined last year, when compared to 2009, by an overall seven per cent. This was the first time since 1999 that the national crime statistics reflected a reduction in all major crimes.
As part of its drive to reduce the numbers even further, the police are targeting criminal gangs this year.
According to Deputy Com-missioner Glenmore Hinds, the assault on the gangs will be intelligence-led and well-designed.
"We will increase our co-ordinated operations in order to defeat the gangs, choosing the most appropriate forms at the given time, whether it is cordons, searches, or curfews.
"And if we are unable to catch them one way, the police will be innovative and use other means, for example, the Proceeds of Crime Act, and arrest gang members for non-violent crimes," Hinds said.