Marked Improvement In Areas Assessed – PCOA

The Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA) is reporting that there has been marked improvement with compliance in all areas assessed by the organisation in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Area 5 Division, since the reinspection of police stations under the PCOA’s Accountability Framework Initiative.

The Accountability Framework Initiative has four phases: the Transforming Our Police Service (TOPS) Competition, held in one of five Area Commands;  TOPS Awards Ceremony; Performance review meeting with JCF High Command, to agree upon deliverables for improvement; and Reinspections to determine if deliverables have been met.

Speaking with JIS News, Senior Director, Inspections and Monitoring, PCOA, Andrew Beaumont, noted that the reinspection of the police stations in the Area 5 Division (St. Thomas, St. Andrew North, St. Catherine South and St. Catherine North) begun in May this year.

“Work is still ongoing but, overall, we have seen an estimated 60 per cent improvement in terms of compliance across the divisions assessed. The assessments focus on issues such as record management, station administration, firearm registration and prisoner in custody management,” he explained.

Mr. Beaumont told JIS News that based on their assessment, which was done in May, the St Thomas Division has improved significantly since their first inspection last year.

“We reviewed records for a 30-day period, we don’t inform them before we inspect what 30-day period we will review. We were able to see the compliance going up in all areas by at least 60 per cent, including the firearm register where there was a 100 per cent improvement, so that means all the stations in the St Thomas Division maintained their firearm register,” he explained.

The Senior Director said that St Catherine North saw high improvement in all areas following the conclusion of their reinspections.

Mr Beaumont commended the leadership within the Area 5 Division for their role in the improvement in compliance with the JCF’s standard operating procedures.

“We saw where the inspections done by the management team increased considerably. Each division is to be inspected twice per year by the divisional commander and we saw where there was a 100 per cent increase in their conducting of inspections,” he added.

According to Mr Beaumont, following the conclusion of the reinspections in the Area 5 Division, the PCOA will be turning their attention towards Area 4 Division, which is in the Kingston area – Kingston East, West, and Central;  St. Andrew Central and South and the same four-step phase in the Accountability Framework Initiative will be done.

The PCOA is an agency of the Ministry of National Security that operates as a mechanism, separate from the police force, to ensure accountability, adherence to policy guidelines and observance of proper policing standards by the police force.