FALMOUTH, Trelawny – Discussions geared at setting up a Caribbean Police Federation as the springboard for cops in the region to work anywhere in the Caricom bloc were advanced last week at the police conference in Trelawny.

“We invited colleagues from within the region – Barbados was here, Bahamas was here, Trinidad and Tobago was here,” said Corporal Raymond Wilson after his re-election as chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation (JPF) Friday night.

“The intention, within the building of the capacity of our members, is to ensure that we campaign to the appropriate authorities – whether it be the government or the secretariat responsible for the setting up of the CSM to consider making police workers or professionals a part of that transfer of labour.”

Caricom states this year launched the Caricom Single Market (CSM), as a precursor to a wider trade agreement that hopes to meld the bloc under the banner of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).

The police want seamless movement for law enforcers, according to Wilson, who says the regional federation would address human resource issues, industrial relations and labour relations issues for police officers wherever they find jobs in the CSM.

At the 63rd annual police conference, the JPF incumbents were returned to their posts as follows:

Corporal Hartley Stewart, general secretary;

Inspectors Handel Morgan and Steven Moodie;

Sergeants David White and Daniel McKinley; and

Constables Cecil McCalla and Mark Tomlinson.

Earlier Friday, police commissioner Lucius Thomas pleaded with conference delegates to become au fait with the history of the Jamaica Police Federation.

“It is my desire that all our members, including our auxiliaries, make it a duty to acquaint themselves with the history of the Jamaica Police Federation. I am now charging the next central executive of the federation to properly research and present in an interesting and readable form an account of the beginining and development of the federation.”

He also ordered the creation of “an archival room or an area so dedicated at your headquarters”, for the storage of photographs, literature, and other memorabilia to preserve the heritage of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

“It is a history worth telling and you must commit yourselves to that process for the benefit of future generations,” said commissioner Thomas.

hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com