The police patrol the street in an effort to maintain law and order.The following are excerpts from the West Kingston Enquiry report: This portion addresses the professionalism and effectiveness of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
17.14 Commissioner Forbes attended on 6 February, 2002, for a third time, to give his opinion respecting the measures that could be taken to strengthen the professionalism and effectiveness to the JCF.
He admitted that the JCF has under review the effectiveness of its methods and how it impacts on the public;
With respect to the issue of proliferation of illegal firearms and ammunition in Jamaica he recommended both a bi-lateral approach and a regional approach to the United States of America, from which most of the firearms and ammunition originate;
He expressed the hope that the acquisition programme of the present Minister of National Security will enable both the JCF and the JDF to deal with the illegal entry of firearms, ammunition and drugs into Jamaica;
He mentioned the role that the Contraband Enforcement Team now plays and is expected to play in the future;
He admitted that the intelligence gathering capabilities could be strengthened;
He admitted that the efficiency of searching premises for guns and ammunition could be improved;
He spoke of the deficiencies in the types of equipment now available to the JCF and he expressed the hope that the acquisitions programme of the present Minister of National Security will provide some relief. In this connection he made the following statement which we consider quite refreshing:
So I think that our concentration now has to include taking on board more less lethal weapons with the intent of saving lives and preventing injuries whilst giving us the edge to apprehend criminals.
He spoke about the drug problem in Jamaica and recommended a proper education for the young as the primary target, and adults as being secondary.
17.15 The Commissioner's description of the origins and nature of the drug problem in Jamaica is important and warrants our reproducing it below. It reads:
.... in former years the drug traffickers external to Jamaica would pay in cash for transshipping through Jamaica, in recent years they have changed that methodology where there is a set ratio of payment in the product rather than in cash so that there is a ratio that says 'x' number of kilos will, for each of that number of kilos that you receive we will give you one kilo as your pay ... so the Jamaica dealer who gets that in payment has two choices, he can supply the local market or he can seek out the international market or he can do perhaps a combination of both. Fortunately for us the international market has greater rewards and so the attempt to trade at that market rather than on local market but there is still sufficient that's left behind you know residual product that creates a problem for us ...
17.16 Commissioner Forbes also spoke of difficulties the JCF was experiencing in recruiting qualified men and women into the JCF and he mentioned the chronic shortage of manpower. He told us that the Government had given the JCF the "green light" to recruit new officers and he expressed the hope that this recruitment drive would yield quality police recruits in sufficient numbers so as to obviate the problems associated with the manpower shortage.
17.17 The Commissioner was then asked his views on corruption in the JCF. We consider his views on the subject important because, as will appear later, he appears to contradict an opinion that Dr. Harriott expressed in his recently published work: Police and Crime Control in Jamaica, that corruption has become institutionalised in the JCF. We produce below the question which Counsel for the Commission put to him and his response:
... there have been many comments relative to derelictions of duty and more specifically corruption on the part of the Police Force, officers within the Police Force. The first and specific question I would like to ask you is according to your information and information gathered by the Jamaica Constabulary Force, how pervasive would you say this problem is?
A: I think it is sufficient to cause any well-minded citizen which includes a policeman to be concerned but I do not agree with this perception by some people that it has become institutionalised. I think that what has happened, and I will make reference to a book published by Dr. Harriott who I am told will be appearing before the Commission. Dr. Harriott did a study of different police force, he studied the police up to 1995, 96, we now for the first time have a five year corporate strategy; we now have mechanisms in place that treat with miscreants and unprofessional conduct a little differently from the way it was dealt with when he did his study, and so the picture that is painted is painted of a Police Force that existed perhaps some time ago. There is no institutionalising of corruption in this Jamaica Constabulary Force that exists today and one of the things that perhaps might lead to a perception that there is more corruption now is because of a conscious decision that I personally have taken to speak out about it.
17.18 Senior Superintendent Williams, head of the Narcotics Division, testified to the same effect.
17.19 In his work, Dr. Harriott defined "police corruption as the misuse by police personnel of their office or authority for personal or particularistic ends." He continues:
... These ends are not restricted to pecuniary or material values; symbolic values, such as power and status, are also included. Nor is the beneficiary restricted to the constable involved; it may also be an institution such as a political party or the Police Force itself. This definition, as its author notes, avoids being either too inclusive (for example, including the acceptance of hospitable gestures from the citizens with no intent to secure preferential treatment or the waiving of sanctions in the future) or too exclusive (for example excluding transactions involving symbolic values). [references omitted]
17.20 Dr. Harriott identified four types of police corruption which his study uncovered:
Attempted below is a typology consistent with these principles and the above definition. The types isolated are: entrepreneurial corruption, administrative corruption, police brutality and political corruption.
17.21 Dr. Harriott's description of institutionalised corruption in the JCF is found in the following passage of his work:
Corruption in the JCF has been highly institutionalised, and despite the recent disruptions, remains fairly well organised, with some variation across units. Motivated by the misplaced desire to safeguard the authority of the police, to evade public scrutiny and deflect demands for greater accountability of their organisations, and plain self-preservation, the JCF High Command, like most police administrators elsewhere, has tended to accept only the existence of individual corruption. This is the "bad egg" thesis. It personalises the problem, obscures its quality (that corruption has become an attribute of the Force itself) and oversimplifies the solutions (reform, neutralise or remove the bad eggs) by focusing on the need for individual rather than institutional changes. Image management is seen as fundamental for masking the nature of the problem, protecting the institution and constructing its legitimacy.
The institutionalisation of corruption as a process is seen as having two general features: first, a bottom-up process premeating the organisation; and second, a top-down process of increasing permissiveness that progresses from endurance to tolerance to acceptance of corrupt behaviour. As individual corruption endures, negative sanctions tend to be waived. Corruption consequently becomes more prevalent, permeates the organisation, including the top echelons, and gains acceptance as a perquisite and, in some instances, as an entitlement and customary right. Therefore it is routinized and done overtly with impunity. Finally, it is defended and justified. Such outcomes, as is widely recognised in the literature, are largely but not solely due to the inducement of structures; they are the result of an interactive process (between structural inducements and individual behaviour) which include the impact of individual behaviour on the institution. In this setting, the bad eggs provide a highly visible model of successful achievement by illegitimate means. They symbolically affirm that corruption is a viable strategy for quick, easy and relatively safe accumulation of wealth, status and power within the JCF. They are usually aggressive and open purveyors of deviant values, who constantly test and seek to extend or redefine the boundaries of subculturally acceptable corrupt practices. They are products, as well as reproducers and reshapers, of their institutional milieu.
17.22 We have set out the opposing views at great length because, in our view, the issue is of importance. Any attempt at reform of the JCF must appreciate fully the dimensions of the problems. Unfortunately, viewing the testimony of Commissioner Forbes in its best light, it seems to us that it does not display the degree of appreciation necessary to deal with the problem in all its dimensions. That said, however, we would be remiss not to recognise the context in which the JCF operates. This is how Commissioner Forbes described that context:
A: You know, one of the greatest challenge that face me is my knowledge that corruption is not just in the Police Force but you know, permeates all strata of Jamaican society. Many of the policemen who are corrupted, are consciously cultivated by those with the intent to corrupt and at a moment of weakness they are corrupted and are owned by those people thereafter and so even as we fight and we struggle with corruption within my own organisation Jamaica as a country, as a nation, needs to look at what is happening with Jamaica because of corruption in the wider society.
Business people, you know do not see anything wrong with beating the system at the ports of entry, beating Customs and you hear people boasting all the time that they 'lick' a container, for example, they got a container through with little or no duties, that is the term they use, the motorist on the street who is stopped by a policeman, doesn't have a difficulty with saying to the policeman, look boss, I can't take the time - go to court you nuh so hold a lunch money.
Q: You mean initiative very often comes from the public?
A: They are the persons who are making the offer and I am saying that we have to address it in every area in the Jamaica society.
17.23 On the assumption that Commissioner Forbes' description is true, it appears to us that context might explain but not excuse corruption in the JCF. Acceptance of that context is inconsistent with the oath that all police officers take upon joining the JCF; furthermore, there is a code of conduct developed by the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Innercity Development Committee which seeks to guide the conduct of police officers in their relationship with citizens. It is true that the code of conduct does not deal with corruption as a subject. The primary duty of every constable is the protection of life and property, the preservation of the peace and the prevention and detection of crime. In order to discharge those duties, society, through the law, has given to police officers powers and privileges not enjoyed by other members of society. It seems to us that the society has the right to expect the highest standards of conduct from members of the JCF. Honesty and integrity are of paramount importance. Police officers should therefore be open and truthful in their dealings and avoid being improperly indebted to any person or institution and should discharge their duties with impartiality.
17.24 In his work, Dr. Harriott has suggested that democratic reform of policing is the answer to the problems to which we have just made reference. The reform process ought to be fixed on improving the police effectiveness in crime control, the quality of justice and, consequently, the quality of life of the people of Jamaica. This is best done in a manner informed by the democratic principles of citizen responsibility, participation and equal treatment of all.
