Forbes
THE POLICE police are uncomfortable with the level of crime that has been plaguing the country for some time.
Commissioner of Police, Francis Forbes, spoke of these concerns at a Gleaner Editorial Forum at the company's North street headquarters last week. He spoke to several issues, including crime.
He said: "Crime has been posing a severe challenge to all of us for quite a period now, and the situation with regards to crime in Jamaica, is far from comfortable."
He cited gang warfare, domestic violence, police shootings, and the growing intolerance of Jamaicans with each other, as contributing significantly to the country's huge homicide rate.
ON GANGS
Gangs in Jamaica, that are termed prominent gangs, are of the types that are engaged either directly or indirectly with the drug trade.
And they are supported, not only by local persons who have the wherewithal, but also by overseas linkages they have set up, and this gives a tone to the local players, which has to be accredited at the international level.
In other words, we are not just dealing in Jamaica, with some small-time players here and there to make money. We are experiencing organised crime at a level that is not seen as indigenous to our situation here.
ON DEPORTEES
Deportees are people who have been sent to us. When they arrive, we can't treat them like prisoners, because they have not committed any crime in Jamaica.
Those who we apply and obtain monitoring orders for, but a man will tell you on his arrival in Jamaica, that he is from Regent Street and he is going back there. But he has lost all contact with anyone in the area and is uncomfortable going back there. So, he ends up in Montego Bay and nobody there knows him as a deportee.
The impact on crime of those being deported, is something that we have been unable to measure effectively, because we do not yet have an integrated criminal justice system and many of the people are unable to be caught for the purpose of analyses.
With regards to the police force, we have been having difficulties even tracking some of these deportees. I must hasten to say that having posted an assistant commissioner with the Jamaican Embassy in Washington, has helped us to streamline the return of our own nationals in a more uniformed way.
The point I am making is that we are still not able to capture the contribution that deportees make to the criminal statistics in a scientific and accurate way. We have every reason to believe that they influence much of, or some element of the crime that the country experiences.
It is also a fact that many deportees seem to understand the system in the country from which they are deported, that it poses no problem for them to return. Sometimes, the time it takes them to return is only dependent on their own feelings on whether or not it is safe to make the attempt.
ON POLITICALLY- MOTIVATED VIOLENCE IN EASTERN KINGSTON
We have called upon the political representatives to assist us in certain areas generally, although we do not assign politics to raw criminal behaviour.
But we have to be mindful that when the politicians themselves sing the song, we have to do something to neutralise it. But, we have called upon them to assist us, in that regards in Eastern Kingston.
The Peace Management Initiative to my mind has made a significant contribution there.
The fact that they were able to get into the communities and invite the people to return to behaving at a level that is deemed to be normal, get parents to bring back the children to the schools, and seeing people standing at the bus stops once again, gives the feeling that here is a community that has resumed normalcy in some degree.
The criminal element is not comfortable in an environment where the citizens are going about their day to day business in a normal way. What suits criminal elements in communities like those, is when fear is driving everyone into a state of paralysis.
In that atmosphere, there is an attitude, that you dare not speak to the police, dare not even resist criminal behaviour that is directed towards you, or other persons who are innocent victims in the community. So the Peace Management Initiative has contributed to stability in those areas.
ON APPROACHES TO CRIME-SOLVING
We have been doing quite a lot of work with our intelligence approaches to the crime situation. Unfortunately, we cannot say publicly much of what we are doing.
And we continue to get the criticism that we are not doing well intelligence-wise and the police need to know, to understand, intelligence and all that.
The truth of the matter is that we have improved and we have increased our intelligence output 100-fold over the past 12 or so month and we have been reaping the benefits as a consequence of that. However, I would like to put on the table that we need to, there is still need for a lot to be done.
ON TARGETING CRIMINALS
Targeting hardcore criminals, people who are organised crime bosses, people who are what you would want to deem as the head of drug cartels, is not something that any one country can succeed at, by itself.
The nature of the business gives it an international flavour. And it means therefore that for any degree of success, countries must collaborate and more critically, countries must co-ordinate their efforts.
Transit countries like Jamaica find themselves in difficult position, because countries with accounts that are bottomless have still not been able to conquer the drug trade. So that countries with limited resources and unlimited demands find it particularly challenging and that is where transit countries like Jamaica, is faced with particular difficulties.
And I believe that there is responsibility on the part of the user country, which can afford to fight the drug trade effectively because of no lack of resources, there is that responsibility on their part, in fact an obligation to do more for transit countries such as Jamaica.
The fight against the drug trade takes tremendous amounts of co-ordination, collaboration and money.
ON BIG DRUG PLAYERS
When we speak about the big players, Jamaicans think only of this little handful of players whose names are called all the time. And we labour under the misconception that we know the players.
Since our intelligence capacity has been increased, we have been stunned by some people who have been turning up to be very, very big players. When we bring some people to book some people are going to be very, very surprised. Because these are not the run of the mill players.
ON DEMAND/REDUCTION OF DRUGS
We need to address the demand side of drug. When we speak about the economic cost of the drug trade to the state and to the people, it is very difficult to quantify, but I'm sure it is significant.
What has saved us is that there is a social classification of drug users in Jamaica, which continues to put crack users at the bottom of the social strata and in a community, no matter how depressed it is, is to be seen as the worst type of person. I think that that has saved us.
But the number of crack addicts on our streets is seeming to grow each day. So there needs to be more resources and more effort on the demand reduction side, and this is something that even the big user countries have identified. I don't think enough is being done here.
ON POLICE MEDIATION UNIT
Mediation is a necessity and we must become more pro-active with our mediation people. I must remind you too, that at Government level there is this mediation effort that is going on. Even within my own organisation, we have found the need to have what we call peer counsellors, because when stress is a part of the job, people lose control easier than when they are less stressed. So even among ourselves we have now brought peer counsellors along in every parish.
ON NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM
We are now operating a main frame system an IBM X 400. It has fallen apart basically (hit by Y2K bug). And we are seeking to have a PC-based system that will allow for integration, not just now but in the future.
But at the heart of our problem, is this need for an integrated criminal justice system and, I am pushing for a start on my side, in such a way that it will allow us to be a part of the integration as we go along.
The signs now are encouraging both for computerization and for communication. In fact, I think that pending a Cabinet decision, we are very close to tying up a deal to improve our communication system.
ON OWEN CLUNIE
He is on leave which takes him up to June, and if he wants to come back and if the Services Commission is in favour of that, then certainly he will come back to work.
When I am officially informed, because I have not yet been officially informed of the outcome of the case, when I'm officially informed I will have to make a decision, a determination as to what the placement will be, bearing in mind things such as confidence.
ON PURCHASING GUNS
I accompanied former Minister Knight to Washington some time ago and I put on the table to the then head of Customs, Mr. Kelly, who is now back as Chief of Police for New York, I put on the table that since there are two main ports from which guns and ammunition are exported to Jamaica they were to focus on those two exit points on the U.S. side.
And since Customs was responsible for the movement of goods, that we need to get their assistance in this effort.
But, what is it that we want? We want to be able to search everything there basically. They are technologically advanced there, we are not. They need to search the things coming from the point of departure there, prior to it coming to Jamaica.
In the same way it is our obligation to search goods leaving Jamaica to other countries. At the time, the response was that there was no manpower to allow for that.
And I put on the table a proposal, that is still on the table, it is still my proposal that, in order to facilitate this, that we send Jamaican police persons to help with the physical searches if there is a shortage of manpower. And that was not accepted then, it is still on the table.
ON POSITION IN A CHANGED GOV'T
My position as Commiss-ioner? You'd have to ask those people who would come in as the change agents.
ON WHETHER A CHANGE COULD AFFECT HIM
I don't know. I'm a professional policeman who should only be removed from office for wrongdoing, ill health.
ON RETIREMENT
Retirement for a purpose other than age. I'm 51 years this year. Retirement age is 60. I have no intention of occupying this post for a very long time, in addition to the time I've already spent. I think that the organisation needs to grow.
I came to the post of Commissioner with a plan, a vision, and there will come a time, when I must exit and a fresh vision, a new plan must be put on the table.
So I have no problem in my own mind that I ought not to be here forever. I don't see my continuation in office, being an issue for politics.
