Dear Editor,

Police Commissioner George Quallo, while speaking at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Trafalgar New Heights on July 20, 2017, stated that, due to resource constraints, the security operations could not be implemented in more than two zones at any given time.

This came against the backdrop that these special operations are labour-intensive and require significant manpower in order to facilitate multiple zonal operations simultaneously.

Quallo said that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) currently operates with some 11,000 members. However, the staff complement is 30 per cent less than what is needed for operational efficiency.

The security personnel in these zones would encounter challenges executing the components of this initiative on a wide-scale basis, since multiple zones could not be operationalised simultaneously.

We knew beforehand — not since these initiatives were recently announced by the Andrew Holness-led Administration — that the JCF is miserably under-resourced across the board, and this, oftentimes, hinders them from effectively and efficiently executing operations.

In that context, it is no surprise that a zone of special operation has not even been declared yet, but we find ourselves grappling with resource constraints.

How can we expect our security personnel to conduct successful operations to catch the criminals and make us safe when we fail to adequately resource them?

So, in a highly likely situation where rampant criminality and disorder exist in some areas, which would require urgent intervention and sustainable action to catch the criminals and to restore order and the rule of law, the police could be exposed to the risks and be like sitting ducks because the limited resources would be tied up in other operations.

This is very troubling.

The Government announced last Wednesday that the National Security Ministry had been allocated $2.57 billion to facilitate the zonal operations. Clearly, this is not enough.

Where is the substantial allocation to the justice system, which also has resource constraints? Does the justice system not play a crucial partnership role in prosecuting the criminals and lack the resources to function?

Resource inadequacies do not augur well for the effective execution of the “clear, hold and build” components of the initiative and for the maintenance of general crime-fighting measures to make us safe. It will take significant and dedicated resources to successfully fight crime.

It is imperative for the Government to make the substantial resources available to obtain meaningful results.

Proper planning, coordination and execution are key to success. Otherwise, our efforts would be counter-intuitive to the expected positive results of the outlined objectives.

We should change our reactive mindset if we endeavour to progress as a nation.

Dujon Russell

dujon.russell@yahoo.com