More Civilians to Take Over Duties in JCF

Commissioner of Police, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, has said that civilianization, is one of the strong pillars that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), will be using to help increase and enhance its capacity to police the nation.
“We are working assiduously to deal with the human resources of the Force and to get our numbers up, and we are doing it in several ways. The first thing and the easiest way to get our numbers up, is to get those who we already have in the system, and who are already trained and are not involved in core policing duties out there, back into policing. So, everywhere we have the little pockets of policemen doing jobs that civilians can do, we will be removing them. Civilianization is one of the strong pillars that we are using to enhance our policing capacity,” he explained.
Speaking at a Rotary Club luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on September 11, Mr. Lewin said that this effort to civilianize areas within the JCF has already started, citing the transport and repairs department as one such example.
“We have already done it. We have taken the uniformed officers out, put them through a process of retraining, and put them in the divisions. And we are looking at everywhere in the force, and we are speeding up that process of civilianization,” he pointed out.
He said that in addition to using civilians to carry out administrative work for the JCF, they are now undertaking a vigorous recruitment drive.
“We have to increase the intake, and so we have recruited both for the JCF and the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), running back to back, and this is a priority,” the Commissioner said, adding that there is also the need to improve the physical infrastructure of the Police Academy at Twickenham Park, which is used for training purposes.
“The Police Academy is not at full capacity for the simple reason that the plant is in a bad state. And that is why we are placing great priority in improving the physical infrastructure of the Police Academy this year, so that we can bring the intake to a maximum level for which it was designed,” he pointed out.
In completing his list of measures that are being used to drum up the number of officers needed in the force, the Commissioner acknowledged that his main problem is the reduced number of uniformed officers out on the streets, informing that the JCF is now recruiting district constables.
“We are short and we are down on numbers, and we need to recruit more. We are now recruiting district constables. They play a very special role within the police family and the more of them we have, is the more uniformed officers that we have to place out there,” he said.
Mr. Lewin pointed out that the JCF currently has approximately 8,000 members, a percentage of whom are doing administrative work. He said the target is to increase the human capacity by 50 per cent.