The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has turned its back on old-fashioned policing and has embraced a modern, professional approach in handling crime, declares Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security and Peace, the Hon. Dr Horace Chang.
He made the remarks last Thursday, June 4, while commending the Area 5 police for the historic numbers in the first quarter of the year, including a stretch where zero murders were recorded in the St. Andrew North Division for the first 138 days.
The security minister highlighted the role of the police hierarchy in sustaining community policing as an important pillar of the force’s crime fighting strategy and emphasised its impact in helping to reduce gang activity across the various divisions in Area 5.
Minister Chang said also that he was heartened by the reports given by individual divisional heads within Area 5, which indicated a strong reliance on community policing as a measure of their success.
“Every single divisional head has mentioned community policing in their reports, meeting with the business community, holding stakeholder meetings and engaging in domestic violence programmes. We are making a difference,” Dr. Chang said.
“Less gang activity means that we can now demonstrate the breadth of police professionalism and undertake the other things which come under the anti-violence programmes,” he added.
Dr. Chang noted that research has taken on a more significant meaning in the modern JCF.
He said that a very powerful analytical team was built up, doing analytical work based on statistics and research to set programmes and policy.
Additionally, the security minister stated, that the government is comfortable with the levels of investment in the national security architecture of the country and that the subsequent returns have been desirable.
“We are going to complete this investment. The police are overseeing the C5 execution, which will give you a complete cyber security suite of communications and we will maintain that,” the minister said.
The C5 – Command, Control, Communications and Counterintelligence Centre is aimed at providing a wholistic and integrated security system across the island.
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