THE posts of 1,105 civilians employed within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are to be regularised, Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang has announced.

This means that secretaries, records clerks, office attendants, cell attendants, groundsmen, messengers, attendants, motor vehicle washers, and handymen will now hold permanent positions.

In a statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Chang said these employees have traditionally been kept as temporary/contract workers “and they have very little benefits and when they retire, they retire in absolute poverty”.

“The practice of sending these workers home after more than 30 years of service, in many cases with just a handshake will now end. It was indeed a travesty of justice, a legacy which we had to correct,” he said.

Chang said this development marks a major and significant milestone in the practice of employing civilian workers to support non-policing functions in the JCF, noting that the workers are normally engaged on fixed-term contracts which limited their access to critical health and pension benefits.

“These workers will now be able to access the benefits afforded to permanent government employees, such as the health and pension schemes, which provide basic health insurance to offset medical expenses and pension benefits upon retirement,” he said.

He said that the Office of the Services Commission undertook an audit for the period August 1, 2018 to April 30, 2021 which revealed that the JCF had a civilian staff complement of approximately 1,900 people and close to 50 per cent were employed on a contractual basis as either casual daily paid or part-time workers.

“As a consequence, and in fulfilment of the mandate to improve compensation and benefits afforded to public sector workers, the Ministry of National Security undertook the necessary consultations with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to increase the civilian establishment of the JCF to address this anomaly and to execute a new policy direction of the Government,” he said.

Chang stressed that the work of civilians is critical to the proper functioning of the JCF and allows the trained service men and women to focus more fully on core policing functions that directly combat crime.

“While the change will result in an increase in the total compensation of workers, it is a necessary increase and will collectively benefit what I consider to be among the most vulnerable group of workers in the JCF. This positive development outweighs the additional expenditure by far,” he said.

In the meantime, Opposition Member of Parliament Fitz Jackson welcomed the permanent engagement of civilians to carry out the administrative duties for the police.