(Jamaica Observer) A police officer with 40 years experience in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is convinced that no commissioner coming from within the ranks can solve the problem of police corruption, as more than 80 per cent of all senior officers, he insists, have question marks over their heads.
“It is something that I have seen during my 40 years in the institution,” said the cop who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There are many officers out there who are aware of this, but they are afraid to come forward. They are in fear for their lives. I have been serving long enough and I am still in the force to know these things.”
The senior cop, who spoke to the Sunday Observer last week, contended that police corruption could be dealt with effectively only if the country looked outside the constabulary for strong-minded individuals who have shown good leadership qualities in their line of work.
He identified Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker, Contractor General Greg Christie, former police commissioner and ex-minister of national security Colonel Trevor MacMillan, and commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force Oddman Brown as likely candidates for the post of police commissioner.
“These are just a few of the persons who have served in their respective areas with integrity,” said the officer, suggesting that there were others.
The police commissioner’s post became vacant on November 6 after Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin submitted his resignation on November 1, six days after appearing before the Cabinet to address rising concerns that the police are unable to check the country’s spiralling crime rate.
A few days after Lewin’s decision was made public, Acting Deputy Commissioner Owen Ellington was appointed the acting commissioner.
Lewin, like his predecessor Lucius Thomas, had tackled head-on the problem of police corruption. In January this year, the police force opened a corruption hotline – 1-800-CORRUPT.
Calls placed to the number are answered outside Jamaica at a Crime Stoppers International Call Centre, a feature aimed at giving the general public, as well as members of the JCF and Customs, confidence to tell what they know.
The hotline complements a one-year plan implemented by the JCF in March last year to increase the fear of detection in the first year for members of the police force.
Under that one-year plan, Assistant Commissioner of Police Justin Felice, who heads the Anti-Corruption Branch, also said that his department would look at integrity testing, where cops will be deliberately tempted by undercover police officers.
Felice also said that other elements of the anti-corruption plan to be executed during the year would include the implementation of ‘the reporting wrong doing policy’, ‘the commissioner’s confidence policy’ and ‘the vetting policy’. He said, too, that the plan would also have to look at amnesty and immunity implications.