Klao Bell, staff reporterRural area policemen often have to use their own resources to perform official duties, without compensation. And sometimes that's the only way they are able to fulfil their mandate, "to serve and protect."
An officer at the Bluefield police station in Westmoreland, said when the weekly allocation of 113 litres of gas is used up, officers pool funds or seek contributions of money or gas from citizens in the community.
The Police Federation is concerned that no structure is in place to compensate officers for use of personal items.
"It is a very common thing throughout the organisation when members of the Force have to use their resources. Private cars, cell phones, even money from our own pockets to buy food to give prisoners or persons who are lost. To serve and protect sometimes means policemen have to give out of their own resources," said Inspector Handel Morgan, an executive member of the Jamaica Police Federation.
At police stations where there are no telephones, officers have been using their cellular phones for which they have to buy phone cards to make work related calls.
Inspector Morgan told The Sunday Gleaner that at the Amity Hall Police Station in St. James, where there is no telephone, the main means of communication is a cellular phone that belongs to an officer at the police station.
"In Portland, some divisions don't have phones because there are no lines in the area -- the personnel rely on the radio or the phone. Some other stations like Spring Hill and Mill Bank, don't have phones. There is no provision to compensate officers for use of cell phones," said Clarence Taylor, Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the area two police division of Portland and St. Mary.
Police stations in rural areas are each assigned a car, but sometimes, this allocation fails to meet the needs of the community, and officers have to use their own.
At the Oracabessa Police Station in St. Mary, where the police say reports of domestic disputes are frequent, officers are often unable to rush to the scenes of conflict.
"People who we are assisting sometimes have to help us with rides," said an officer at the Oracabessa Police Station. Another officer at the Orange Bay Police Station in St. Mary said he uses his vehicle to do official duty because the station's vehicle frequently needs servicing.
He does this, "out of the goodness of his heart," even though "we're not supposed to".
Michael James, Deputy Superintendent of the St. Thomas divisional headquarters, explained that officers are willing to use their resources. But they also feel compelled to do so to avoid the backlash from the public.
"When information comes in they may feel compelled to act on it, and that may mean using their car. When officers fail to respond it impacts negatively on the police," DSP James said.
The Police Federation believes that officers should be compensated for use of their own resources and plan to address the matter in the upcoming wage negotiations.
But while some stations suffer, others do well with what has been provided by the Government.
"We don't lack for anything. The one car we have works and it serves our needs. There isn't a lot of crime because the people in the community live good. Sometimes we don't even have to leave the station, when crimes are committed both the criminals and the victims come to the station. We can even send for perpetrators and they come," said Corporal Neville Barkeley of the Mocho police station in Clarendon.
Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, toured police stations in western parishes last week Friday and commented to The Sunday Gleaner that, "a lot of the facilities are bad, some circumstances can't be allowed to continue. We will work within resources to improve the condition of police stations."
