Former Commissioner of Police Colonel Trevor MacMillan has suggested bi-partisan discussions on the future of the security forces. “I feel very, very strongly that we should have bi-partisan consideration on what our security forces are going to look like in this requisite century. It has very many implications,” Senator MacMillan told the Senate on February 9.

He was contributing to the debate on a bill amending the Constabulary Force Act. The amendment fulfils a condition of the transfer of members from the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), on or after February 27, 1998, which was to link years of service to enhanced pension rights on retirement.

During the debate, Senator MacMillan, a member of the Opposition, criticised former Minister of National Security and Justice K D Knight for failing to follow his advice to increase the establishment of the force during the 1990s.

He said that for three years, between 1993 and 1996, “I tried my utmost to convince the then minister of national security but the then minister would have nothing to do with it. He would not agree to it”.

He claimed that Knight eventually came up with a scheme to turn over some roles in the Force to civilians, starting with the police control room. However, when the Ministry of Finance and Planning encountered problems in making the change, the idea was abandoned.

“I submit that in the last 20 years, if we had been increasing the size of the JCF to what is really required, budget problems or no budget problems, the situation in Jamaica might just be different,” Senator MacMillan insisted.

He said that like the ISCF, the Jamaica National Reserves (JNR) was established so that in times of emergency there would be an extra group “of disciplined, trained people” who could act.

“But, over the years, the establishment (of the JCF) has not been increased, so the ISCF has moved from being a part-time force to a full-time force,” he said.

He added that there were at least 300 members of the JNR still serving and who had been serving for many years, but because the JNR plan did not have a pension, they would be leaving without anything.

He said that an amendment was needed, if the whole exercise was to be seen as just.

MacMillan also questioned the cut-off date of February 27,1998 and asked what would happen to those who were transferred prior to that date. He suggested that the amendment should have been more general to allow other people who had been transferred earlier to benefit from the facility.

He said that the movements from the ISCF to the JCF were triggered by two reasons – the urgent need for numbers in the JCF and the failure during the last 20 years, to adequately increase the size of JCF to deal with increasing problems of the nation.

He said that this was manifested last year when the 20% decrease in murders was attributed to the “hot spots” strategy. However, he said that withdrawal of personnel from other areas to the so-called hot spot areas led to increased violence in the areas from which the police were withdrawn.

Government senator, Colin Campbell said that there had been discussions about the size of the JCF over the years and the Government had now taken a decision to increase the complement to 12,000 members.

However, he said that this could not be achieved overnight as the infrastructure needed to be put in place to train the recruits.

“A lot of our recent recruits were women and the force was geared, basically, as a male force and we had to put in place the necessary facilities to increase the training of women,” Senator Campbell explained.

The amendment was passed by the Senate.