Two of the country’s top law enforcement bodies — the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and Financial Investigations Division (FID) — have revealed that while their mandates continue to expand, their staffing levels have not kept pace.

Speaking at last week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, FID Chief Technical Director Dennis Chung said that agency is operating far below its approved complement, even while trying to build out the capacity needed to manage complex investigations it now carries out.

“We are just at about 35 per cent of our establishment right now [but] we’re building out. So we’ve hired more lawyers, we’ve hired some financial investigators, but there’s a whole lot more that we need to have,” Chung told Observer reporters and editors.

He said the shortage of personnel is particularly evident on the investigative side, where the work requires specialised skills and time-intensive case-building — especially when tracing financial trails, reviewing transactions, and preparing matters that can stand up in court.

According to Chung, the FID requires approximately 50 investigators but currently has just over 20 on staff.

He was supported by Garth Williams, brand communications specialist at the FID, who said the staffing shortfall has meant the agency has had to push to carry out its mandate, even as its workload continues to grow.

“As a department, it calls for 191 persons. We’ve just pushed past 70 recently, which suggests that the FID has been punching above its weight, certainly in terms of delivery. But we’re getting much better, and we’re becoming more aggressive as we ensure that, as a department, we can fulfil our mandate,” Williams said.

He pointed out that recruitment remains a challenge for FID not simply because of numbers, but because of the standards required to work within an agency tasked with probing the financial underworld.

The staffing shortfall comes at a time when financial crime has grown increasingly complex, driven by the rise in cyber fraud, online scams, and sophisticated money-laundering networks.

Both agencies have acknowledged that modern investigations require far more than traditional policing skills, with heavy reliance on forensic accounting, digital analysis and intelligence-led operations.

Chung explained that this shift has forced the FID to rethink how it builds capacity, noting that technology now plays a critical role in supplementing human resources.

“One of the things that we are actively working on is not just building more people, but building more technology to improve productivity. We have to use AI [artificial intelligence] and other tools to help build capacity, because the volume and complexity of cases continue to increase,” noted Chung.

That pressure is also being felt at MOCA where Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards said the original staffing model no longer reflects today’s threat environment.

While MOCA currently operates at about 61 per cent of its establishment, Edwards said the nature of crime has changed significantly since the agency was formed, particularly with the rise of cyber-enabled offences, and financial fraud.

He pointed to the creation of a cyber investigations unit as an example of how the agency has had to adapt quickly, often reallocating staff from other areas to meet emerging threats.

Despite these pressures, Edwards noted that MOCA is able to rely on partnerships with the Jamaica Constabulary Force during major operations, particularly when additional manpower is required for arrests and tactical support.

However, Edwards stressed that the greater need lies in building technical expertise rather than expanding headcount alone.

CHUNG…the FID requires approximately 50 investigators but currently has just over 20 on staff

WILLIAMS… the FID has been punching above its weight, certainly in terms of delivery