Security Minister Pleased with Support for New Police Commissioner

With Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Dr. Carl Williams, set to assume command of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), on Monday, September 15, National Security Minister, Hon. Peter Bunting, is pleased with the public’s support for the new police Chief.

Mr. Bunting said the incoming Commissioner can “use the universal welcome that he has received from the Government and Opposition, JCF, and civil society, as an indication that the entire Jamaica has high expectations of him.”

“I believe he will live up to those expectations. I believe he will do a good job,” the Minister asserted in an interview with JIS News.

Mr. Bunting said the issue of members of the JCF respecting the human rights of all persons is of high priority for the new Commissioner, and as Minister, he has signaled to Dr. Williams that improvements must be achieved in short order.

“The culture of the JCF, over many decades, has not put sufficient emphasis on (human rights), and as the policy leader of the Ministry, I have made it very clear to the incoming Commissioner, that this is an area that he is being mandated to improve on, from a performance perspective,” the Minister told JIS News.

The new Commissioner will be leading the JCF with a 30-year track record of innovation and performance in a wide variety of command roles.  He holds a Ph.D in Criminal Justice, and is the founding director of the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA), and is also responsible for conceptualizing and developing the Anti-Lottery Scam Taskforce.

He led Jamaica’s anti-narcotics campaign from 2000 to 2004 with the successful prosecution and/or extradition of a number of major traffickers.

Having enlisted in the JCF in 1984, Mr. Williams rose steadily through the ranks to reach the rank of DCP, holding numerous supervisory and command positions at the Station, Division, and Area levels.