Increased Emphasis on Community Policing

State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Arthur Williams, has said that the Government will be placing increased emphasis on community policing as an important strategy in creating a modernised security force and addressing crime and violence.
“Everyone in the police services in Jamaica is going to have to buy-in to the concept of community policing, as that is the direction we are going to go in the future,” Senator Williams stated.
He was speaking at the Passing Out Parade for new members of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), held on Friday (March 13) at the ISCF’s headquarters at Harman Barracks.
According to Senator Williams, community policing is a philosophy that will promote a new partnership between the people and the police, and is based on the police and community members working together to identify the problems, which lead to crime, and to find solutions.
“Can anyone doubt that this is the way to go for the future in terms of policing in society?” he queried.
Community policing, he pointed out, is going to require a “force-wide” commitment of every member of the police force. “In order to implement true community policing, (the) regular and special constabulary, must create and develop a new breed of police officers, who act as a direct link between the police and the people in the community,” he stated.
Commending the new Special Constables, the National Security State Minister noted that they are graduating at a critical juncture in the history of the country, given the alarming state of crime and violence and the fact that “we are on the cusp of a new era of policing in Jamaica.”
Stating that it will not be an easy task to police a society in which “criminals are waging wars against citizens and the security forces,” he urged the graduates to treat decent law-abiding people with respect, as criminals were in the minority.
“You, as new members of the ISCF, are being given enormous power – the power to deprive people of their liberty. You must exercise that power only when it is absolutely necessary, and even then, you must have due regard for the rights of people and continue to treat them with respect,” he stressed.
“I charge you to go out there and continue your training and I charge you to treat those whom you have to police, with respect,” he added.
A total of 124 Special Constables graduated from the Training School at Harman Barracks after undergoing 23 weeks of intensive training. Certificates and awards were presented to outstanding graduates.