In her first press conference since taking over the helm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) last Friday, acting commissioner Novelette Grant yesterday issued a strong rallying called to all policemen and women to get their morale courage in gear.

“We expect our members to turn up to work and perform and we will be demanding from them evidence of their output. They will be held accountable for what they do and what they fail to do,” the acting commissioner firmly stated. “There won’t be any pass for anybody and all my JCF colleagues know that is where we stand, and we are united on that front.

“We want to remind all officers that the hallmark of professional policing is moral courage. Moral courage is required of everybody, but especially the police, and moral courage is the ability to do that which is right in the face of criticism, scorn, mockery, lack of appreciation, adversity and opposition. We are the police, this is what we signed up for, we will do the right thing and that is what why I am calling on all sworn members and unsworn members of the police force to do. Get your moral courage in gear. I demand no less and I am certain my colleagues at the table with me demand no less, and Jamaica expects no less. Do the right thing,” Grant stressed while speaking to journalists at police headquarters in Kingston.

Acting commissioner Grant firmly emphasised that in furtherance of her demand she will seek to address internal and external relations of the JCF “to get better, more effective presence and performance”.

“Our internal strategic focus will seek to energise our members as they continue to take on the dangerous and difficult task of policing in Jamaica, particularly in high-risk communities. The restoration of internal order is critical to effecting public order. High on the agenda for internal restructuring will be efforts to address employee motivation and morale; performance and output; accountability; discipline and conduct,” Grant said.

Grant then announced what she termed a 90-day plan that she and the JCF will be working with to stem crime in the country.

“We will be doing strategic and focused deployment of our assets, especially in high crime divisions,” she said. “There will be a renewed focus on public order. We expect compliance from citizens and we expect the police to enforce the law without favour or affection, malice or ill-will. That is our sworn duty and we will be doing that.”

Additionally, within the next three months, multiple existing policing initiatives will be refocused.

She said Operation ‘Tidal Wave’ – a targeted policing activity wherein an increase in road policing and police presence in towns is achieved – will be re-energised as well as the ‘Get the guns’ campaign.

“We accept the responsibility that as the lead agency responsible for the safety and security for our nation it is for us to go out there and find those who are offending and arrest them, even while we welcome the public’s support. We want to tell you we can’t do it alone, it is in your interest to support this initiative,” she stated.

The Community Safety and Security Branch, according to Grant, “will be a lot more visible to do complementary crime prevention and reduction work”, ramping up its efforts to prevent praedial larceny.

“Special focus will be on gender-based and domestic violence, youth violence, and community conflict management, and they have been mandated already to intensify the work to be done in Western Jamaica,” she said.

The acting commissioner also advised that there will be heavy focus on the JCF’s counter-gang activities and disrupting prolific offenders. The police, according to Grant, will also target its efforts to reduce the ‘currency’ used by criminals to fund illegal activities by increasing the work of the narcotics division.

“For my 90 days as acting commissioner of police, my team and I do not promise to work miracles. However, what we promise to do is to work together, and continue to partner with key stakeholders,” Grant asserted.

Her commitments come a day after it was announced that the Government will be allocating roughly $5.5 billion more in the 2016/17 supplementary budget to increase the capacity of the security forces to combat crime and violence.

The figure includes $2.93 billion which will be spent on improving the security of the country’s borders and reducing its vulnerability to the importation of guns and the trafficking of drugs.

Yesterday, murder figures stood at 35, in comparison to 23 recorded over the same period last year.