ThomasGlenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter
CHAIRMAN OF the Police Officers Association (POA), Acting Assistant Commissioner Leon Rose, says increased government funding is critical if the administration of new Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas is to be effective.
Mr. Rose said there has been little improvement in government assistance, even though the POA had lobbied for $11 billion at the start of the 2004/05 financial year. They only got $8 billion.
"There is no significant improvement in our budget and there are marginal improvements in our uniforms, which are still in a very sad state today," Mr. Rose told The Sunday Gleaner on Thursday.
He said that for Commissioner Thomas to perform efficiently and effectively, the government will have to address the level of resources required in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), including the legislative frame- work, renovations to police facilities and improvement in the budget and transportation.
BUDGET CUT
Last September, in an unprecedented move, the POA charged that the reduction in the budgetary allocation by government was preventing members of the JCF from effectively fighting the wave of crime sweeping the country.
The senior officers had publicly stated that the minimum fleet requirement for the JCF was 1,500 motor cars and 326 motorcycles. At the time, they complained that the force only had 1,023 motor cars, half of which were more than 10 years old.
The current motorcycle fleet is 260, with 195 more than seven years old, according to the POA. The Acting ACP said since then, apart from several attempts to refurbish a number of police stations, the police force have only got 150 new vehicles, which is a drop in the bucket.
In response to claims that the police force remains ill-equipped to fight crime, Gilbert Scott, perma-nent secretary in the National Security Ministry argued that the police force can always use more equipment.
However he said, "We are constantly seeking to add to what they have."
According to Mr. Scott, the police have received about 30 motor vehicles since last September, and are to receive 100 motorcycles this month. Those motorcycles should be on the road by February.
He also noted that 150 more vehicles are due to arrive in the island in the middle of next month and should be on the road by March.
Furthermore, Mr. Scott said, 20 police stations have been repaired since the hurricane and 20 more are currently in the process of being repaired. Repairs are soon to begin on another 30 stations.
"We are also looking at the acquisition of marine aircraft," he said.
Commenting on the performance of retiring Commissioner Francis Forbes, ACP Rose said Mr. Forbes had a major impact on the transformation of the police force to modernisation.
But according to Mr. Forbes, this was one of the areas that he got no support for.
"My biggest regret during my tenure, is the lack of support to modernise the police force," Commissioner Forbes told a group of journalists on Tuesday.
STRATEGIC PLAN
The modernisation of the police force is guided by the Corporate Strategy Plan which is a brainchild of the retiring commissioner. The Corporate Strategy is strategic plan to guide the JCF towards being a more efficient and effective organisation.
It was launched on June 17, 1998, at the Jamaica Conference Centre (JCC), in downtown Kingston, under the watch of the then National Security Minister, K.D. Knight.
Chairman of the Police Federa-tion, Corporal Raymond Wilson, believes Commissioner Forbes has done an excellent job, with the limited resources he got to complete the task.
"Nothing much has been changed, except for the 100 cars the police got and the other 150 promised by the government," said the Police Federation chairman.
IN NEED OF EQUIPMENT
He said the JCF is in urgent need of forensic equipment, an efficient telecommunication system, training material and motor vehicle. Cpl. Wilson said $845 million is required to purchase 200 motorcycles, 260 motor cars, 38 long base jeeps, 10 30-seater buses, 21 15-seater buses, 15 trucks to carry personnel and prisoners, 11 pick-up vans, eight front end loaders, four mobile canteens, 21 marine vessels.
Another $200 million is needed for accommodation and classroom facilities, $20 million required to refurbish and upgrade library and computer lab facilities, $7.5-million is also needed to conduct in-service training, $273 million is needed to purchase safety gears. Over US$4.5-million is needed to upgrade the current telecommunication systems.
Cpl. Wilson further said that the human resource element of any organisation is critical to its operational development and productivity.
"We should start looking into the problem of stress and demotivation in the police force," said Cpl. Wilson.
According to the chairman, he and his team will be meeting with Commissioner Thomas before he takes over the reins of the police force, to get a sense of his strategic direction.
In the meantime, the Jamaica Labour Jamaica (JLP) has thrown its support behind the newly appointed commissioner.
"He comes to the office at a very difficult time. He will need a commitment from the Govern-ment to implement many of the various recommendations submitted to them in the past that have been shelved," said Derrick Smith, the opposition spokesman on national security.
