Laura Tanna, Contributor
SHIELDS
ON MINISTER PHILLIPS
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER Shields expressed respect for both Commissioner Lucius Thomas and Minister of National Security, Peter Phillips. Said Shields: "I find Minister Phillips a very easy person to work with. The whole innovation around Operation Kingfish, which is basically a partnership between international police agencies and Jamaica, bringing some really good working practices here to tackle some of the most difficult crimes -; murder and to attack and arrest the kingpins in drug trafficking - has worked. The concept of bringing police officers in from abroad with certain skills, to enhance the work of the JCF, was very innovative. It could have been perceived as unpopular by some. I don't think any of those things would have happened had it not been for him. At the moment, we are enjoying a 30 per cent reduction in murder this year because I, along with my colleagues, have been able to put certain things into place. So we've received support from him."
ON PRIME MINISTER SIMPSON MILLER
"Having said that, despite everyone's assertion that crime is at the top of the agenda, the lack of resources over a number of years has meant that we are in the position that we are now. I think you've got to blame the whole political system that's allowed to get it to this state." As to the new prime minister's attention to crime, Shields said: "Indirectly I know that she offers tremendous support to the Commissioner, to me and the rest of the team in terms of what we're doing. I think she will demonstrate that support tangibly when she gets the Cabinet and the process starts. That's what I think. I've not had a direct discussion with her, but the feedback I'm getting is that she's very, very pleased with what we're doing. I expect, having had discussions with her informally long before this process started, that she believes a lot more can be done."
WITNESSES
Earlier, Shields had advocated better pay for police, outlined the need for an amendment to the law making DNA swabbing upon arrest mandatory to create a database, together with a good forensics lab, digital closed-circuit television network and computer links, all of which would combat crime effectively, and reduce the reliance on witnesses, which is currently too great. Surprisingly, he insisted: "The witness protection programme has been in place for 10 years. They have looked after over 1,000 witnesses and not one witness has been murdered in the programme. Not one witness! But, for other reasons, witnesses may choose not to go in the programme. It may be they return to the area. It goes right back to what I was saying in the beginning, about assessing risk. If you make a bad judgement, you can end up dead. If you're drawn to go back, thinking they may have forgotten, maybe they haven't forgotten."
He continued: "To a degree, people have to be careful in working with the police. They're reporting on bad people, therefore they have to be concerned and cautious in terms of what they're doing. But that doesn't mean they don't do it. People do. People in their thousands in Jamaica help the police and they don't get killed. They don't get intimidated. The vast majority give information, for whatever their motivation!" More people need to realise that.
RISK ASSESSMENT
Earlier I'd asked if he hadn't been afraid of violence when he joined the police force at age 17. He answered: "We all have fear. It's a question of being able to control fear. You have to look at what's the cause of the fear? And be trained as well. I don't fear what I do. Perhaps others would worry about me far more than I worry about myself. But I'm not reckless because I calculate, I assess what I'm doing. My job has always been involved, or revolved around risk assessment, making decisions based on available information. I don't fear things that I can't understand or can't see. I try to understand and base any risk on what I know, as opposed to what I'm scared of and I don't get scared particularly easily."
Shields works with eight colleagues on a daily basis, and the senior management team consists of 12 to 20 members. He noted: "We can't underestimate the fact that this is a high crime rate country and area. But, if we work together we can overcome it. Already with this drop in the murder rate people are beginning, just beginning, to see that there is a way forward. But they have to work with us. Certainly we've made a dent in the cocaine trade, but you don't ever win the war. We might be able to take on another serious problem, which is the amount of arms and ammunition coming into the country. The fight goes on; it's never 'We've won the war'. That's going to take years. That's where all the other factors of government and society come into play. Ultimately long-term change isn't down to the police. It's down to education, family values, good politics, and a good thriving economy."
CIVILIAN WORKERS
Despite his university honours degree and 30 years' police experience in terrorism, counter-terrorism, the international drug trade, money laundering, kidnapping, etc., and his contacts with worldwide security networks, Shields reiterates: "I'm not here just to go and ask for more resources because we haven't got enough. I was here to do a specific job, to work in support of the commissioner, to reduce crime and violence, the priority being murder. We have demonstrated that we can do that by deploying our police officers far more intelligently than we perhaps did in the past." Shields suggested: "People doing a lot of jobs do not need police powers. We have to ensure the police officers we have are trained professionally and are out there on the streets doing a job." Many administrative posts can be filled by civilian auxiliary staff. "There's a recognition by government and certainly by the police that we need to civilianise as many posts as possible. But these things aren't done overnight."
CELEBRITY STATUS
As to his celebrity status, he said simply: "I'm astounded! Wherever I go, people recognise me and want to speak to me. I still find it hard to get used to. I enjoy it because 99.999 per cent of the people are warm, friendly and congratulatory in terms of what we're doing. I get an immense amount of encouragement from that, because it is a challenging job. The huge support for the police keeps me going. There are a huge number of people who want Jamaica to be a better place. I think they see [Commissioner] Lucius Thomas, me and other members of the high command team as the vanguards of that."
Part 1 of this article was published on May 10 and Part 2 on May 17.
