JCF area 3 corporals learn new skills

MANDEVILLE — Thirty Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Area 3 division corporals participated in a one month development training course, which included studies in management and problem-solving.

The training programme was inclusive of public speaking, the tenets of debates, problem-solving and decision making.

“We did communication, missing persons and human trafficking and a number of other areas that affect leadership and supervisory,” top achiever, Detective Corporal Sheldon Dobson, told JIS News at the closing ceremony at the Ingleside Recreation and Wellness Centre, Mandeville on Friday June 8, 2011.

He added that the training has made him a more confident person, who is well developed to lead and to manage the operative personnel of the JCF.

“I was not so confident, but during the course I started to feel the development and now I am a better person. I would recommend courses like these for every leader in the JCF,” he said.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Area 3, Derrick Cochrane, told the ceremony that the training challenged the officers to expand their thought processes, “by thinking broadly and deeply, as they hone and develop their leadership and supervisory skills”.

“The programme was designed to equip these junior supervisors with the requisite skills to manage within their areas of command effectively, in a world of perpetual change, which calls for insightful management and leadership. It will also serve to develop their managerial capabilities, so that they can effectively guide their juniors,” the ACP said.

He stressed that the course made clear to the officers the link between crime and national development, as crime is an obstacle to development and effective leadership is required to tackle the problem.

He said the participants were acutely aware of how their role as good supervisors is linked to crime reduction and, ultimately, the economic well-being of the country.

“Here we must commend the participants for the excellent quality of their research and the zest and enthusiasm they brought to these assignments,” added.

He explained that each syndicate was assigned a contemporary policing problem that is of priority concern to the JCF, and were required to research and present recommendations for implementation at the station level.

In the valedictory report, Woman Corporal Deborah Smikle told the gathering that the course has given them improved communication skills for more effective leadership.

“We were transformed in to be a group of highly skilled and knowledgeable sub-officers… who have the skills necessary to effectively execute our jobs, and for the betterment of the Jamaica Constabulary Force,” she said.

By GARFIELD L. ANGUS, JIS Reporter