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Crime fight blues
Lack of political will hampering police, says Les Green
BY Garfield Myers Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau myersg@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Mandeville, Manchester - Citing delays in the drafting of legislation governing DNA testing and fingerprinting of suspects as well as the video recording of witnesses' statements for criminal trials, Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green says an inadequacy of political will and consensus is severely hampering Jamaica's anti-crime fight.
Green, one of five British police officers brought to Jamaica in recent years to assist the Jamaican Constabulary, told a Manchester Chamber of Commerce forum at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville on Thursday night that he had seen "very little consensus around delivering" laws to assist the police at the level of the Government and Opposition.
"When I first came here, five years ago, we were talking about a fundamental policing requirement of the modern era and that's DNA evidence; we are still talking about it. (It is) not even as far as I know before Parliament.
"We do not have the power to take DNA evidence and. I have cases in Manchester which we could solve if we could take DNA evidence from suspects; we cannot do that. And we are still talking about it and we haven't delivered it," an obviously frustrated Green told his audience in response to questions.
"We need a consensus around what are the (important) bits of legislation, what are our priorities if we are to deliver a safer Jamaica," said Green.
With more than 1,500 murders annually in a population of 2.6 million, Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
"These (proposed legislation) aren't political footballs to be kicked around," he said. "These are basic requirements for effective policing and for an effective society to have . I am not sure how many countries do not have the power to take DNA but there are very, very few."
But Opposition spokesman on national security Peter Bunting, who was also at the Chamber meeting, told the Observer that the legislative issues raised by Green were not the subject of disagreement between the Government and Opposition. He suspected, he said, that the bills were simply delayed in the drafting stage.
Green told his audience that to compound the difficulties facing police investigators, an apparent "error" in the drafting of an amendment to the Fingerprint Act had weakened the hand of the police.
"There was a power under the Resident Magistrate's Act for fingerprints to be taken for serious crimes when persons are charged," said Green. "That power has been removed under the amendment to the Fingerprint Act. I think it was removed in error."
He claimed, however, that correction of the "error" could present "an ideal opportunity" for legislators to "insert" the DNA aspect "to be treated the same as fingerprints and photographs" of suspects. "It's a small insertion," he argued.
Regarding the long-proposed video recording of witnesses' statements for use in court, Green said such a strategy would actually serve as a disincentive for criminals to kill and terrorise witnesses.
"If we could secure that testimony using video recordings, that would protect the witness as well because then it would not be in the interest of the criminal to kill the witness. If they kill the witness, then the testimony would go (to court) without any (possibility of) questions being put (to the witness) and that testimony would convict them (criminals) because it is recorded for everybody to see." Green explained.
Bunting, in response to questions from the Observer, suggested that drafting instructions had been made by Cabinet following agreement between the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and the Opposition People's National Party. "We (parliamentarians) cannot act as legislators until bills come before Parliament, and I am assuming that the police force has communicated these imperatives to the minister of national security . then I can only imagine that it must be the parliamentary draftsmen where the bottleneck is occurring," said Bunting, who is member of parliament for Central Manchester.
Green, who recently ran into trouble with the Police Federation for saying that some slain policemen were themselves wrongdoers, told the Chamber that with all its flaws the lack of resources made it unfair to compare the Jamaica Constabulary with First World jurisdictions.
"The JCF, with all its constraints and problems, does deliver a reasonable standard of policing," said Green. "What that standard is may not be the standard we would like for Jamaica . But you just look at the resources that the JCF has and look at the realities (resources). It's just not a reasonable situation to be in. Look at the vehicle fleet, look at police accommodation."
Of crucial importance, he said, was for the society to adapt the recommendations of the Strategic Review which seeks to transform, modernise and completely rebrand the police force.
He hailed proposals for a National Identification System but warned that it would have to be "robust" and thoroughly conceived and implemented to avoid being corrupted by criminals.
He also praised the work of former Commissioner Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, as well as his recent predecessors, for their efforts to modernise and clean up the police force. It was incumbent on their successors to continue the work, he said.
Green said that in recent years, Jamaica had invested heavily in modern forensic equipment, training and testing and positive results were being seen. There was expectation that some 300 fully trained and certified forensic officers would be located across the island "over the next few years", he said.
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