THE membership of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are understandably embarrassed following the much-publicised reports over recent days of two of their colleagues being shot while allegedly committing crimes.

Readers will be aware that in one incident in Black River, St Elizabeth a constable assigned to the Clarendon police was shot in the knee by a security guard while allegedly attempting to rob a bank customer.

In the second case a policeman was shot and injured in St Catherine during a sting operation conducted by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency. The policeman is alleged to have attempted to extort money.

We feel for the Police Federation Chairman Sergeant Raymond Wilson when he tells his colleagues that: “This is not the time to become speechless; we must do the opposite so that Jamaica can see that we neither condone nor support any member (of the Police Federation) who displays such behaviour.”

Sergeant Wilson noted that the alleged incidents threatened to compromise the integrity of the JCF and undermine public trust and partnership.

We agree entirely. But letâs also appreciate that, in any police force anywhere, shameful incidents such as these are going to pop up from time to time. And it would be unfair not to make the point that the JCF today is a much more professional and accountable body than it was a decade ago.

Also, the 10,000-plus members of the police force, like any other group, are representative of the wider Jamaican population. It would be naïve to believe that the screening process will be 100 per cent foolproof in detecting all those with a propensity to criminality.

That said, the challenge here is for the JCF to reduce miscreants among its complement to the barest minimum. That can only be achieved if it makes itself thoroughly efficient in recruitment processes and personnel monitoring and management.

It seems to this newspaper that the mechanisms to weed out so-called ãbad eggs and corrupt cops should be as proactive as possible.

Even more crucially, the effort to block potential deviants during initial screening of recruits has to be consistently rigorous. There should be no complacency, no slackness, no compromise of established standards. And no stone should be left unturned during background probes.

Crucially too, police personnel like most Jamaicans under extreme pressure from the prevailing socio-economic realities must be constantly reminded by leadership at all levels of their responsibility, first and foremost, to serve and protect no matter the frustrations.

For fresh faces such as the 244 young men and women who graduated from the National Police College in Twickenham Park, St Catherine, last Friday, as well as hardy veterans, that sense of responsibility must be unyielding, unquestioned.

Lastly, we suspect that for Sergeant Wilson and others in the force and outside, who have on occasion found value in bashing agencies such as the Independent Commission of Investigations, which probes alleged police excesses, Monday’s shameful happenings in St Elizabeth and St Catherine would have had a most sobering effect.