New recruits at the Jamaica Police Acacdemy in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.
Omar Anderson, Freelance Writer
MORE THAN 100 impressed citizens have called the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) between June 2001 and November 2002 expressing satisfaction with its new service as outlined in the recently-published police's Citizens' Charter.
Despite the praises, the JCF said it is aware of several gray areas that need improvement, such as its 119 emergency line, and its traffic and highway officers. Most complaints regarding poor service and incivility have been lodged against these two.
"Irrespective of what is being said on talk-shows, we are doing a lot to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the force," said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Lorna Wilson, who is in charge of the publication of the Citizens' Charter, at the Police's Corporate Strategy Unit (CSU).
Some 24,000 copies of the police charter have been distributed in teachers' colleges, high schools, the three universities, and several rural primary and preparatory schools, to help citizens become aware of their rights and the quality service police are expected to provide.
In addition to the charter, the CSU in June last year, established a toll-free line, 1-888-4PROTEC, which citizens can use to report police misconduct. Between then and last month, the police received 107 calls commending them, compared to 69 calls stating that the police delivered poor service and were uncivilised.
The highest number of commendations, 25, were reported in June this year, 22 also in March this year, the latter DSP Wilson said was due to the police's vigorous effort in spreading the news of police maintaining good behaviour.
"March was the month when we trained 27 police facilitators to go out into divisions and train other police personnel in the whole art of common courtesy, respect, and the whole attitudes and values system," she said.
Conversely, she said the highest number of cases of incivility/poor service, 22, was recorded in February this year. The DSP said most of the cases of incivility have been reported against the traffic and highway patrol police. In this regard, she said the CSU has identified strategies to help these particular policemen and women.
"We have identified that there's a need to train traffic and highway police in the whole delivery of quality service," DSP Wilson said. "We have developed a training plan for them which is supposed to begin in early 2003."
Meanwhile, one of the services the charter promises, is that someone will speak to a member of the public within five minutes when he or she visits a police station. To test this, The Sunday Gleaner visited the Papine Police Station and the Half-Way Tree Police Station and was attended to within the specified time by two courteous police officers.
CONCERNS
However, one area of the charter the CSU is concerned about is the promise to respond to citizens' call within 15 seconds after they've called the 119 emergency number.
"We are having difficulty because we know we are not up to standard," DSP Wilson said.
To determine the kind of service the 119 emergency number has been offering, The Sunday Gleaner, tested the effectiveness of the 119 operators on November 19. A response was received within 15 seconds of calling at 4:01 p.m.
On November 20, at about 1:51 p.m., another call was made, but it was cut off after five seconds. A minute later, another call was made and a policeman answered after 25 seconds. DSP Wilson said her unit has realised the problem with Police Control, which incorporates the 119 emergency department, and is doing its best to help train the staff there to deliver better service.
"We at the CSU have been making our own evaluation of their performance by having people in the CSU make calls to see if we are meeting the required standard," she said, adding that part of the requirement of the emergency staff is to answer the telephone in the required time and properly identifying themselves.
In addition to her unit being involved in quality assurance, she told The Sunday Gleaner that the Standard Monitoring Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister also visits police stations and Police Control to see whether set standards are being met.
Information gathered from this process, DSP Wilson said, is used in case studies to help develop and train staff at Police Control which she described as the "kernel" of the emergency service.
THE SCENE
As a support to the 119 service, the Citizens' Charter said the police would arrive at an emergency scene within 10 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas. The DSP said the police have been doing well in arriving at scenes early, even doing so in five minutes.
This promise was proven by a citizen living in the Kingston 6 area who was impressed with the police's swift response last Wednesday, and called The Sunday Gleaner to express her delight. According to the residents, some time after 11:30 p.m., a car sped past her apartment complex and an occupant in the vehicle fired five bullets.
"I called 119, someone courteously answered the telephone on the third ring, listened to me and said they would send somebody to check it out although I told the man it was not a robbery," she said. "The patrol arrived within five minutes, took a report and lingered in the area for a while."
Regarding other services promised in the charter, it said the police will reply to citizens' suggestions or complaints within 10 working days of receipt. DSP Wilson said the police have been working hard to honour this undertaking, but have not been fully successful.
"Unlike how we monitor Police Control, it is difficult to monitor divisional offices," she said. The charter, on page 20, also speaks to citizens' complaints against police conduct, and promises to keep citizens updated on the progress of a protracted investigation, and also advises them of the outcome. DSP Wilson said the police have been fairly successful in this regards, as this mainly involved the Police Complaints Division.
