Commissioner says JCF Committed to Community Policing

Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington, has said that community policing is a critical component to the work of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), as it seeks to improve relations between the police and citizens.
“It is very important. We think it is the preferred approach to policing in Jamaica, we think working in partnership with the citizens is crucial,” he told JIS News on Tuesday.
To that end, the Commissioner said that a significant number of members of the force have been trained as community police officers, and all new recruits are being trained and deployed as community police officers.
Mr. Ellington admitted that while community policing is important, there are difficulties, especially in communities that lack proper leadership structures and where citizens are really challenged and the state of wellbeing is marginal. However, he said that the force was not giving up on the policy.
“We’re still keen on building our community-based policing, and what we are trying to achieve is greater partnership at the community level, so that the citizens work with us, the structures that are in there work with us and the political leadership that are in there work with us and even the helping agencies work alongside us,” he told JIS News.
He said that community policing is focused on identifying problems that undermine safety, security and wellbeing in these communities and working together to solve them.
“So it is not entirely about policing, it is working with others to ensure that the communities are safe, peaceful and confident,” he said.