Felice

As pressure mounts on rogue cops, 36 of whom have been nabbed since the start of the year in the drive to weed corruption out of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, ACP Justine Felice, is charging that many wayward policemen have been unleashing their venom on professional policemen and women who dare to challenge them.

"A lot of work is being done - we are getting more and more reports, but there needs to be a wider effort by officers of the JCF to tackle this scourge," Felice asserted in an interview with The Gleaner.

"This is despite the threats against members of the JCF who are trying to make a difference from the rogue elements in the Force."

An impassioned Felice urged professional policemen and women to maintain their stance in the face of the threats being made against them by transgressing colleagues.

He was supported by Lascelles Chin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Lasco Group of Companies, at the Police of the Year ceremony on Wednesday.

Anti-corruption hotline

Felice revealed that some of the arrests were made possible by the establishment of the anti-corruption initiative, 1-800-CORRUPT.

The anti-corruption hotline has received 65 calls since it was set up in January of this year.

Of the 53 persons arrested for the first nine months in 2009, 36 were police personnel and 17 civilians.

Felice disclosed that over 100 investigations were initiated throughout the year and 68 files dispatched to the director of public prosecution.

Comparatively, a total of 70 arrests were made for all of 2008 with 57 being police personnel and 13 civilians.

"We have set the drive to weed out errant policemen and women. It's a long road but we are not going to stop," asserted Felice who took control of the anti-corruption branch in September 2007.

Felice is also urging more civilians to make calls to the anti-corruption hotline.

"Jamaicans must remember and be assured that this is an initiative to gain public confidence as neither their names, nor any other information about them will be disclosed."

"We are engaged in a public campaign to highlight the integrity of the programme," he said.

But even while the authorities have stepped up efforts to stamp out corruption from the force, Felice lamented that Jamaicans continued to hold to the view that corruption was rife in the JCF.

"We still have major problems, there are serious allegations of abuse of power and these are causing major concerns in the public domain," he said.

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com