Dear Editor,

As was to be expected, another commissioner of police is shuffling the deck of his senior officers in an attempt to, as is always the case, achieve efficiencies. It has never worked in the past, and it will not work now.

The police force in Jamaica needs cleansing with the harshest chemicals possible. For too long — we have been fed the constant diet of ‘yes, we have a few bad apples, but the majority of police personnel are not corrupted and are hard-working’. By now, even the baby in the cradle knows for certain that this is not so. The police force in Jamaica is made up of corrupted individuals who simply do not care about the badge they serve or the oath that they have taken, or for that matter the people they serve.

Customer care by the police does not exist. If one has the unfortunate need to go to a police station to report an incident, the police members at the front desk are usually way off the radar because it is lunch time, or their phones are ringing — and that personal call is so important that dealing with citizens becomes a lost priority. It is not a nice feeling having to give a statement to someone who shows no interest when they are being paid to do so.

Shuffling the deck so many times may provide any presiding commissioner with the possibility of having those around who are trusted but it also means a complete restart for the officers when they take over their new positions. This of course takes time and by the time you look around they are gone again.

Shuffling the deck only gives the impression that something is being done, when in truth is that the existing orthodoxy always remains the same.

Elvin James

Kingston