Against the backdrop of recurring confrontations between police and civilians, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has directed the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to develop and implement a public education campaign promoting proper conduct and mutual respect during interactions between cops and residents.

Holness was speaking at the graduation ceremony for the 91st Staff & Junior Command Courses at the National Police College of Jamaica in Twickenham Park, St Catherine last Friday. He said the education campaign would likely span two to three years to address the growing number of sour encounters between law enforcers and the public which, he noted, were often captured and circulated online.

“I have seen it so often. It is shared on social media. It makes the country look bad. Damaging to our image. It is now time that the JCF develops and deploys — along with other stakeholders — a national public education campaign.

“I don’t want to use the word teach but that’s what it comes down to — to educate our citizens about how they should interact with the police, and to educate the police as to how they should interact with the citizens,” said Holness.

He argued that due to the colonial past of the JCF, many Jamaicans still hold reservations about police authority.

The prime minister added that while the JCF has made strides in improving its professionalism and public image, more work is needed to change deeply rooted attitudes on both sides.

“There is a culture, unfortunately, in our country [and] we don’t speak about it, because we have a sense of exceptionalism of ourselves. But the truth is, we resist authority. So the police are coming to the citizen with the notion that their authority must automatically be accepted and respected because ‘I am wearing the uniform’. And the citizen is coming to the interaction with the police that historically these forces have been oppressive and unfair and unjust, and ‘I am going to resist and defend my rights’,” said Holness.

He said the proposed campaign would seek to educate citizens on complying with lawful police orders while also reminding members of the JCF to maintain professionalism during interactions with the public.

He pointed to several examples of incidents that escalated unnecessarily, recounting complaints he has received from citizens about their encounters with the police, including a woman who panicked after being stopped while driving alone at night, and two young men who allegedly had M16 rifles pointed at her during a traffic stop.

Holness urged the 35 graduates — who were senior or newly promoted officers — to identify members of the force who display unprofessional behaviour and recommend further training or disciplinary action where necessary.

“You must continue to maintain your tactical superiority. When gunmen see you they must get nervous and run. But when decent, law-abiding citizens see you they must say, ‘ah, these are the good guys, they are here to protect me’. So that means you have to develop greater intelligence, greater discernment, greater respect, and professionalism. So at the National Security Council, this is our consideration, and we have given directives to the Commissioner of Police [Dr Kevin Blake] about rolling out this National Public Education Act,” added Holness.

He argued that citizens must also understand that resisting the police is an offence and encouraged Jamaicans to comply with cops and file complaints afterwards if they believe they were mistreated.

“This cannot continue as we seek to modernise our society. There must be a watershed period where this ends. In the same way that we have been able to end political violence and we are now getting on top of murders, the police force must now lead in dealing with how we manage police-citizen interaction,” said Holness.

He also reiterated the Government’s commitment to expanding the use of surveillance technology within the JCF, including body-worn cameras, cameras in patrol vehicles, and wider closed-circuit television coverage across the island.