Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Mark Shields has embraced the idea of sensitivity training for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to enhance the manner in which they relate to individuals of particular minority groups, including those from the homosexual community.

"I think there is a place for minorities, whoever they are, to have the opportunity to speak to recruits during their initial JCF training," DCP Shields told The Gleaner yesterday. "Diversity is something that needs to be embraced. Therefore, the only way to do that is to train police officers so that they are no longer just citizens with a view and with prejudices."

Protests staged

DCP Shields' comments follow recent demands made by gay activists of a Florida-based church who staged protests outside several Jamaican consulates in the United States last week.

Leaders of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a worldwide assembly of gay, lesbian and transsexual congregants called for the Jamaican police to begin sensitivity training in relation to the gay and lesbian communities.

Additionally, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based international human rights group, accused members of the Jamaican police force of having a particularly nonchalant attitude towards pursuing cases of violence in which victims are members of the homosexual community.

DCP Shields, who has responsibility for crime, said that in his view, there are issues of prejudice in relation to how police deal with individuals of specific minority groups.

However, DCP Shields who is a former superintendent with London's Metropolitan Police, said this was not exclusive or unique to Jamaica.

Jason, who said he was the programme manager at the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All sexuals and Gays, said he was in full support of MCC's actions and that he believes the Government and the Church are condoning mob violence against homosexuals in Jamaica. He argued that neither had ever condemned such incidents when they occurred.