Swap cops for civilians - JLP

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Thursday | August 2, 2007

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) says it will, if it becomes the next government, be pushing to have some duties traditionally reserved for the police placed in the hands of civilians.

According to the party's manifesto, released on Monday, the move will be part of a JLP government's thrust to give lawmen more time to focuson crime fighting.

The party, which is hoping to defeat the incumbent People's National Party at the next general election just over three weeks from now, is proposing that a civilian traffic corps be established to relieve the police of traffic duties and enable them to focus on law enforcement.

According to JLP Leader Bruce Golding, the plan is aimed both at crime fighting and indirectly increasing the available complement of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

With the issue of a 40-hour work week high on the police agenda, due to what lawmen say are the strenuous work conditions they face, the JLP said recently that for such a move to be effective, one of the key requirements would be an increase in the numbers in the police force.

Civilian traffic corps

Mr. Golding told The Gleaner yesterday that the implementation of a civilian traffic corps was not intended to substitute for a direct increase in the cadre of the force, as the numbers of the police force would still be inadequate. The move, however, would help, he said.

"That (traffic corps) is part of it, however, it is not a direct move as the number of the force which is at 7,500 is not enough. We are committed, though, to increasing the force to 12,000 members," Mr. Golding said, pointing to another section in the party manifesto.

"What we need to do is to ensure that police who have been trained extensively are spending more time fighting crime, we don't want a police who is trained to deal with criminals directing traffic."

Mr. Golding said these civilians would be viewed as "quasi-police", with possibly the powers of a district constable. "This is the civilianization of the police force; they (civilians) would be performing what we would loosely call the non-police functions of the police force."

Mr. Golding said such functions would include the directing of traffic and the patrolling of the streets. He also said these civilians would not receive the extensive training of a policeman and that they would be underthe supervision of the police. He however did not say whether they would have the powers of search or arrest.

But in response to the JLP's proposal, Nancy Anderson, legal officer for the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights, is calling for serious consideration to be given to the plan before its implementation.

"I can understand what is behind it, because there are a lot of organisational things that police do which civilians can do, but the details would have to be looked at very carefully," she said. "Because you don't want to be giving civilians without proper training the powers of search and arrest."

Under the District Constables Act, district constables throughout the island "shall have all the powers of constables. This includes the power of search and the powers of arrest.