Calls for Gov't to implement recommendations of police force review
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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DEPUTY British High Commissioner Graham Glover has called on Government to speed up the implementation of the remaining recommendations of the Strategic Review of the Police Force which was completed earlier this year.
A panel headed by Dr Herbert Thompson, who heads the Northern Caribbean University, offered 124 recommendations which are expected to improve the constabulary and better equip police officers to fight crime.
Glover made the call during the recent launch of human rights group Jamaicans For Justice's annual justice report, entitled "The Bob Woolmer Legacy: Lessons for Jamaica", at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St Andrew.
"The role of the Jamaica Constabulary Force in the delivery of justice and security is, of course, crucial. That is
why we, alongside other international partners, believe it to be of massive importance that the recommendations of the Strategic Review of the Police Force be implemented in full. This will require brave and determined leadership, perhaps itself a precondition of good government," Glover said.
The committee proposed five main areas of the constabulary - culture, corruption and human rights, internal and external accountability, leadership and management and professional development - which needed revamping.
Executive director for Jamaicans for Justice, Carolyn Gomes, also called for significant improvement in the justice system and continued the call for thorough probes into all questionable deaths. The professional standard applied to investigating the death of former Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, should be the norm and not the exception, Gomes contended.
"Bob Woolmer's legacy to Jamaica has been to highlight the potential of our justice system to function fairly efficiently, in some instances. Unfortunately, his legacy to us also includes a stark spotlight on the inequities of the system," Gomes said.
The justice report pointed to the cases of Hapete Henry, who was shot dead by the security forces more than 10 years ago; and 14-year-old Lance Zab, who was also fatally shot by police in August last year, as examples of the unacceptable standard applied to probing deaths of poor Jamaicans against persons considered important, like Woolmer.
The Coroner's Court has yet to dispense with Henry's case, while the JFJ contends that police investigating the circumstances under which Zab was shot were tardy in their probe..
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