Shearing

Professor Clifford Shearing, chairman of criminology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, believes the Jamaican government and public need to pay keen attention to the implementation process of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) strategic review, if the report is to be a success.

Shearing has first hand experience when it comes to reforming a police force steeped in tradition.

He was part of the panel, which reviewed the Northern Ireland police force, then called the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and made sweeping recommendations, which have transformed it into a modern police service today.

The behaviour of the police, for over 30 years of a period in the history of Northern Ireland, known as 'The Troubles', led to the alienation of the Catholic community.

More than 3,000 civilians, as well as hundreds of police officers and soldiers, were killed during this period. This was, however, changed with the implementation of the Patten Reform in 1999.

Rebranding

The Patten commissioners, who comprised academics, lawyers, police and other key organisers, made 175 recommendations for change, including the rebranding of the paramilitary force, the Royal Ulster, into a unit now known as the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

"The thing that was crucial (then) was what was an oversight commission, which was basically an independent body that kept a score card on how the government was doing in implementing those (recommendations)," Shearing told The Gleaner.

"That scorecard often pointed out areas, where they were particularly weak and they had a public debate over those issues," he continued.

Shearing lauded the Jamaican government for accepting the recommendations and believes all the elements were in place to have a successful implementation.

"It hasn't been a bureaucratic report. It hasn't just been a report which looks at bureaucratic organisational issues, it has attempted to get to the heart of issues. So, I am very optimistic here that the same kind of success, which we saw in Northern Ireland we'll also see it here."

A timetable for implementation of the report, which was released in June, has not yet been set by the government. The report has 125 recommendations which focus on changing the culture of the JCF.