By Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter
University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, Dr. Anthony Harriott, as he criticised the crime report recently released by the US-based Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) during a forum at the Stella Maris Church, St. Andrew last week. - Winston Sill
THE RECENTLY-released Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) Report has been criticised by University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, Dr. Anthony Harriott, who said its recommendations were flawed and unable to significantly curb crime in the society.
At the same time, Dr. Harriot has recommended several measures he said he thought would impact positively on crime.
Speaking against the background of a high level of fear and victimisation in the society, Dr. Harriott, who lectures in the Department of Government, said the PERF Report focused mainly on police reform, which he felt was not enough to reduce crime.
"Police reform is vital and would help to control violence, but I believe the report errs in overestimating the potential effect of improved policing, and therefore misses the opportunity for a more comprehensive crime-control plan and strategy," he told members of the human rights watchdog group, Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ), at Stella Maris Roman Catholic Church in St. Andrew last Thursday.
He said there have been several attempts to reform the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) since 1993, but those have had mixed results. "We should by now have a fairly good idea of what the problems are and how to move forward with this process of reform," he said.
Recently, the Government accepted all but three of the 83 PERF recommendations to reduce crime and violence in the Corporate Area of Kingston, St. Andrew and St. Catherine, where most of the crimes are committed. K.D. Knight, Minister of National Security and Justice, had announced that two of the recommendations would be implemented immediately.
Dr. Harriot, quoting statistics to reinforce his arguments, said a 1998 survey showed that 44 per cent of Jamaicans were fearful of walking in their cities, 16 per cent were fearful of walking alone in the day in their cities, and eight per cent felt unsafe in their homes after dark. He said people often tend to support extra-judicial killings due to fear.
"People are prepared to support unconventional measures for dealing with crime because there is a sense that the regular, conventional efforts are not making much of an impression on the crime problem, and indeed unconventional measures are needed," he said, referring to the controversial March killing of seven young men by the police in Braeton, St. Catherine.
Dr. Harriott added the Police Force would be disadvantaged if its members were led to believe that reforming the organisation alone would effectively control crime.
"I feel that if we truly believe that it can be solved by purely police methods, we are setting up the police for a terrible failure and perhaps pushing them into desperate measures that will not work," he said.
He recommended that building peace in and between communities were vital, and for the long-term he said it was necessary that there be the creation of opportunities for the people in the society to reduce crime and improve the quality of justice.
He said the PERF Report advocated reforms involving technical modernisation, including improved management system and information technology. He said that while "modernisation and professionalisation" of the Force were important, they were not enough to improve police/citizen relationship.
"These kinds of reform leave the style of policing intact, that is, they insufficiently focus on altering the nature of police/citizen interaction," he said. "We all agree that police/citizen relation is key to controlling crime, but there is little effort on how to re-work that relationship."
Dr. Harriott said a system needed to be developed where the police were accountable to the community they have been sworn to serve and protect, that citizens participate in setting the priorities of the Police Force, and that there needs to be a framework for citizens' redress.
"I believe these approaches have greater potential for pulling the country back from the abyss, than either a disconnected professionalism or an authoritarian disciplinary style would be able to do," he said, adding that he was hoping that the PERF Report, despite its weaknesses, would propel the country forward.
