Recruitment Continues Despite COVID-19 – Police Commissioner

Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, says despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Jamaica Constabulary Force recruitment drive continues.

“I have 600 people in training now, and 360 graduated since March. This is unprecedented and how we got there was that we are now running four different training facilities, because we still have to maintain COVID distances and so on,” he noted, during a recent virtual press briefing.

Commissioner Anderson said the aim is to recruit and train approximately 1,500 persons per year.

“We lost some time last year. We were hoping to recruit 1,500 persons per year… . What we have committed to is 1,200 this year and we can make it,” he said.

“We have the capacity to train those 1,200 and probably up to 1,500 in a year. We have never been able to move off  that mark of [approximately] 11,000 members for the last 12 years… and we have an engine now that can generate it,” the Commissioner argued.

Meanwhile, he said the Jamaica Constabulary Fore (JCF)  is not averse to reviewing entry requirements where necessary, and that the aim is to recruit law-abiding citizens who are committed to the betterment of their country.

“We must always look at our reality and do what makes sense. You must never be so bound to a position that you cannot reassess it to see if it makes sense,” the Commissioner said.

“You have to look at what you don’t like personally… understanding that you are coming from a different generation and what really matters, and who is really going to connect with the people out there. Is it the people who are 55 and 60 or the people who are 19 and 20, so it’s a mix of all that,” he added.