AT BEST, Prime Minister Bruce Golding's call for a review of the constabulary's use-of-force policy is cosmetic and a sap to the family of the most recent victim of alleged police excess. Or, Mr Golding genuinely misses the point, which makes his intervention naïve, which is worse.

For incidents like Thursday afternoon's accidental shooting by the police of an 11-month-old child are often not the result of the constabulary's policy on how and when its members are allowed to apply lethal force. These, after all, are clear, are often repeated and meet international standards.

The police are allowed to shoot when their own lives or the lives of others are in danger, but they must also be mindful of the safety and security of others when they contemplate deadly force. Simple!

Well, not quite, when it comes to application. Jamaican cops, for the most part, appear to lock that part of their training away once they leave the Police Academy; or they pay little or no attention to the reminders that appear in the Force Orders, as former police chief Francis Forbes caused to happen with much fanfare.

Mr Forbes' action, it should be recalled, was after a passenger in a bus, which was not appropriately licensed, was shot by the police who opened fire on the vehicle, ostensibly because the driver had failed to stop. There was the incident in Half-Way Tree, too, of a taxi driver being shot in a mall in similar circumstances. Now, this: A child being killed by a stray bullet fired at an illegal taxi in Spanish Town which did not stop. As usual, the police claim they were fired on first from the car.

The point is, this is not fundamentally about the use-of-force policy; it is, rather, about the culture of an organisation that remains largely paramilitary in structure, feels itself under siege and is imbued with arrogance. There is something of a Rambo syndrome in the constabulary - walk heavy, talk loud, hang tough.

The new police commissioner, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, has much work to do if he is to lead an institution that has public trust and is capable, as he promised, of fulfilling its mandate of preventing and prosecuting crimes. Such an organisation has to be disciplined and founded in accountability.

Jamaican police often face hardened criminals who have no qualms about firing at them; but we expect constabulary officers to exercise discipline and professionalism, to which gunmen are not privy. In that regard, continuous training is critical for constabulary officers. And members of the police force must be held accountable for their actions - whether it is the management failures of a senior officer or an irresponsible shooting by a beat cop.

Building this discipline depends, in part, on the quality of recruits. Hence, Justin Felice's suggestion is worth considering. As the new head of the police anti-corruption arm says, rather than build the force by another 4,000 to 12,000, the numbers should be left as they are and the resources used to pay them better. We can then expand when it is affordable.

At the same time, the police chief must be empowered to hold his officers accountable. There has to be an easing of the rigidness with which officers, no matter what they do, or fail to do, can be fired.

These are the issues which we believe should exercise Mr Golding and his security minister.