ACP Leon Rose - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
ACTING ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police (ACP), Leon Rose, is
urging the Government to provide members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)
with the necessary training and resources, if its members are to perform effectively.
According to him, members of the police force are deemed as ineffective and lacking in capacity but he noted that this is oftentimes the case because they do not have the necessary resources to perform efficiently.
"When you speak of a force ... lacking in capacity and results, all the JCF asks of you is to say ... what have we done to ensure that we correct that," he said while addressing the annual general meeting of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) on Saturday.
"When you train us, when you properly resource us, when you remunerate us, then the society and Government have every right to demand our accountability and appropriate sanction where it is necessary," said ACP Rose.
He, however, cautioned that he was not saying that members of the force should not be held accountable for the current state in which they operated.
"All I am saying, as we move in sync with the realities, then you as an important stakeholder must demand of those in authority that your police force must be trained and equipped to meet these challenges," he told members of the IJCHR.
ACP Rose also told the IJCHR members who gathered at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, that the JCF takes the issue of human rights
seriously.
RULES, REGULATIONS
"(However), we as senior
managers of this organisation are aware that not all members conform to the principles, rules and regulations of the force,"
According to him, some members of the police force see human rights organisations as antagonistic and also believe that those organisations defend criminals more than they do law-abiding citizens. Dr. Lloyd Barnett, chairman of the IJCHR, said it was critical that the society create a new culture of respect for each other.
He noted that there is still a high level of disrespect and viciousness in the society.
"We face great challenges as a country ... the Charter of Rights after many years is not yet a realty," he lamented.
- P. F.
