THERE was a 27 per cent drop in citizens reporting that they had been asked for bribes by public officials, or in the workplace last year, a Latin American Public Opinion Project Americas Barometer poll has revealed.

This was down from 2006, when data showed that some 35 per cent of Jamaicans had been asked for bribes by public officials.

The 2010 figure was less than eight per cent, Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said Karen Hilliard, as she outlined the findings of the poll at the first regional law enforcement anti-corruption conference, under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), held today at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

The poll was undertaken by USAID.

“Administrative corruption in Jamaica is definitely on the wane. In other words, the solicitation and payment of bribes to public officials, including teachers, health workers, local government officials, the courts, and the police, has dropped dramatically,” she stated.

Hilliard said the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is to be congratulated for the strides it has made in stamping out corruption, particularly in law enforcement.

She pointed out that through the National Integrity Action Forum —which was launched by the USAID and the GOJ two years ago — individual institutions, including the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), have articulated their resolve to root out corruption.

“For the first time in recent memory, hundreds of officers have been refused re-enlistment, retired in the public interest and even prosecuted for corruption,” she stated, highlighting that there are some 60 such cases pending in court for 2010, with 13 having resulted in convictions.

“So, we can see that there is movement in the right direction,” she said.