KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) says it will establish an Independent Administrative Review Panel in line with recommendations made in the report of the Commission of Enquiry on the security forces’ operations in West Kingston in May 2010.

This was just one of several responses from the JCF in a release issued today. The force said it examined the recommendations and given careful consideration to those that are relevant to the JCF.

The Commission of Enquiry, in Recommendation 15.17, suggested that that both the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and JCF undertake administrative reviews of the conduct of the named officers.

“It is not too late for the security forces to further examine these matters administratively as issues of internal accountability and thereby signal to their members that such matters will be treated seriously. We note that since May 2010, some of these officers have been promoted – in some cases to very senior ranks,” the commission said in the recommendation.

The review panel to be set up, the JCF said, will constitute one Deputy Commissioner of Police, the head of the Inspectorate of the Constabulary (IOC), one member of the Police Service Commission (PSC), one member of the Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA), and one independent person, preferably an attorney at law, to be selected by the PSC and PCOA.

The findings of the Administrative Review Panel will guide the actions of the Police High Command in relation to Recommendations 15.18 and 15.20, which read:

RECOMMENDATION 15.18: We recommend that the serving police officers against whom adverse findings have been made be relieved of any operational commands that they may hold and that they be prohibited from serving in any special operations units. This measure is not recommended as punishment but as a protective measure against similar abuses of power in future operations.

RECOMMENDATION 15.20: Where the accusations of extra-judicial killings on the part of the security forces were found by this Commission to be credible, and where persons were identified as being in dereliction of duty or were administratively or operationally incompetent, we recommend that these persons should never again be allowed to lead or otherwise participate in internal security operations.

The persons to whom we refer are SSP Graham, SSP Budhoo, DSP Tabannah, Sgt Waugh and Sgt Pratt. This point similarly applies to the commander of the JDF’s Mortar Unit, Maj Dixon. CDS Saunders, CoP Ellington, ACP Gause and DSP Turner are not included in our recommendation because they are no longer serving members of the JDF and JCF.