NATIONAL Security Minister Peter Phillips Tuesday night warned over 400 new police constables against using their jobs to oppress Jamaicans and reminded them that they were sworn to protect, serve and reassure the public.

“You cannot be judge, jury and executioner simply because you have been armed by the people of Jamaica to act on their behalf,” Phillips told the 448 rookies, the largest batch ever in the 136-year history of the police force, at their graduation dinner at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.

“You cannot use your job to oppress and brutalise and kill your brothers and sisters unless you are faced with lethal force directed against you which threatens your life,” he said.

Phillips’ admonition comes in the midst of renewed public focus on the constabulary following this week’s dismantling of the controversial Crime Management Unit (CMU) and the transfer of its equally controversial leader, Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, to a desk job.

The scrapping of the CMU, which was formed 30 months ago to tackle a major upsurge in violent crime, followed the squad’s killing of two men and two women in Crawle, Clarendon four weeks ago. Like the Braeton incident in March 2001 when seven youths were shot dead in a house by the CMU, the Crawle killings triggered public outrage as residents denied police reports that the victims died in a shoot-out with the cops.

Scotland Yard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police detectives have been brought into the island by the police high command to help investigate the Crawle shootings and Tuesday night Phillips defended that decision, but emphasised that the Jamaican police would lead the investigations and depend on the foreigners for guidance alone.

“In everything that you do, there is always the need to get the best facilities,” Philips told the Observer in an interview after his address. “We recognise that we don’t always have the best forensic facilities or people who do a lot of that kind of forensic work, and so I think there is a need to assure the general public that everything is going to be done to find the best facilities and skills available.”

He rejected a suggestion that the introduction of foreign police would undermine local confidence in the ability of the Jamaican police to conduct a fair investigation into the Crawle incident and said the presence of the foreigners would demonstrate that the Government was doing everything in its power to uncover the truth.

“We will be leading the investigation,” he said, “but it’s important that people have confidence that there is not going to be any cover-up or protection of anything that applies, especially given the sensitivities surrounding this case.”

In light of the controversy surrounding the CMU, Phillips urged the graduates Tuesday night to exercise good judgement and non-partisanship when carrying out their duties.

“While, like all citizens of Jamaica, you are free to hold and to exercise your own political preferences,” he said, “you are not permitted to act in a politically partisan manner when you exercise your duties. You will show no favour, grant no favour, nor apply the law unjustly to anyone, because of their political affiliations.”

Over the past 18 months, 1,150 cops have joined the ranks of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and it is expected that another 118 will enter the system by November this year.

The current batch of 448 police academy graduates is part of the Government’s initiative to fill approximately 1,000 vacancies in the police force.

The 448 endured a gruelling 32-week training course at the Jamaica Police Academy in Twickenham Park in St Catherine and at the Eco-Village in St Andrew, where each recruit completed a six-module programme, exposing them to courses in police procedures, law and tactical training. For this group, the JCF converted one module — firearm training — into a course which lasted 32 weeks that required continuous practice at the new shooting range at Twickenham Park.

Reiterating that thinking should be the first action of response when confronted by criminals, Phillips reminded the new constables that they should be restrained in their use of firearms.