HEAD of the Forensic Services Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Senior Superintendent of Police Christopher Brown, has sought to quell concerns that the branch is biased in the use of its expertise for missing persons’ investigations.

Speaking on a recent edition of the JCF’s Force4Good podcast, Brown told host Dennis Brooks that the Communications Forensics and Cyber Crime Division (CFCD), which falls under the Forensic Services Branch, “plays a role in all investigations”.

“I would say to those persons who are wondering whether and to what extent we are offering that support: it’s a commitment, credible commitment, that we do go searching for persons in the digital landscape as well as in the traditional landscape to support investigations,” Brown stated.

According to the respected lawman, the CFCD offers support to detectives in all missing persons investigations by providing “timely and accurate and reliable information regarding efforts to go searching for missing persons”.

“Rest assured that the CFCD provides reasonable and sufficient support to investigators regarding missing person’s investigations,” he emphasised further.

Elaborating on the role of the CFCD in crime fighting, Brown said, “We are required as a force to watch by day and night, and we have done so successfully within the landscape, evidenced by the decrease in crimes and our public engagement and so on. We have taken that into the digital space as well, and so the CFCD represents that arm of the Jamaica Constabulary Force that assists with investigations of those kind of cases that occur within the digital landscape, a very important part of the kind of investigative support that we give to the people of Jamaica.”

In the meantime, he said the experts remain challenged by some perceptions held by the public about just how investigations unfold.

“An investigation is both an art and a science; the forensic science is that kind of behind-the-scenes work often associated with that fancy thing on television, CSI (crime scene investigation television drama). It’s difficult at times to share with the public that what you’re seeing on the television is not necessarily the reality of the case. There are turnaround times regarding the processing of some physical evidence and so it’s not necessarily going to happen within 24 hours, it’s not necessarily going to be happening in 48 hours,” he pointed out.

“Sometimes some of these tests or scientific responses to investigation does take some time and we want the public to appreciate that we are working on these things and there’s a time associated with it. So one of the biggest challenges is really competing with the Hollywood effects of CSI and providing that accurate, thorough, and reliable support from forensics,” he said.

In the meantime, Brown said the role of forensic science in criminal investigations in Jamaica has evolved admirably since his time in the force.

“Certainly a lot has changed, and I’d want to point out to our viewers that the Jamaica Constabulary Force, being a learning organisation, continues to adapt to the changes within our external environment,” he said.

In referencing the speed with which law enforcers are able to identify and nab suspects even in difficult cases through the utilisation of modern science and intelligence, Brown said, “The force has certainly become better in terms of our investigation services and our responses to the needs of our public.”

“Our investigators have over the years been receiving higher quality training. We do have a School of Excellence that provides that kind of services to us. Our investigators are also tested each day with the various crime scenes that they will have to process and to handle, and those things in and of itself have sort of built out our core competencies, our capabilities to respond to the kind of changes as they go and taking us to the next level of investigation,” he added.

Last month, Detective Inspector Paulette Wynter-Crossfield, station manager at the National Strategic Anti-Gang Division — a unit in the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch of the constabulary, said the division boasted a 100 per cent success rate in the safe release and return of hostages, whether fake or genuine. She said for 2024, just under 20 cases were reported.

“So we had 18 cases reported last year; two of them were really genuine, but in all cases persons returned home safely. And we have four [cases so far] this year,” she said, adding that two of them were genuine. “We charged six persons this year for those offences…in [the other] two cases.”