THE MAJORITY of Jamaicans have given Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes either an average or poor rating for his performance in combating crime.
This was one of the findings of a poll conducted on behalf of the Gleaner Company by Don Anderson and his team from Market Research Services Ltd.
Mr. Forbes became the Commissioner of Police in October 1996, and since then has introduced changes within the hierarchy of the Police Force with the aim of making it a more efficient crime-fighting body.
Through his 'Corporate Strategy' programme and his revamping of various police divisions, Mr. Forbes has been in the forefront of developing strategies in the fight against crime, and has played a key role in the collaborative efforts with other countries to tackle criminality in Jamaica. He also implemented the Anti-Corruption Policy and Strategy aimed at targeting police personnel involved in acts of corruption and also to reduce the spate of fatal shootings by the police.
However, despite the official statistics for 2003, which suggest that there had been an overall decline in the number of major crimes such as murder, larceny, and robberies, Jamaicans are not impressed with the efforts at containment.
A strong conviction remains in the populace that crime is actually on the increase, and as such, Commissioner Forbes is not really considered to be doing a good job as head of the Police Force.
According to the poll, about 35 per cent rate his performance as merely average, 17 per cent gave him poor ratings, while just about 20 per cent of Jamaicans think he is doing a very poor job. A combined 37 per cent gave him a failing grade.
Those rating his performance positively accounted for just 26 per cent of all persons interviewed. Only 9.2 per cent of those polled perceived his performance to be very good.
The populace's preoccupation with what is perceived to be rising crime and violence may be the principal factor in the rating ascribed to the Police Commissioner.
Major crime figures have been on the decline over the past 12 months, and last year, there was an 11 per cent drop in all major crimes except rape - the lowest reported cases of major crimes over the past 10 years.
CRIME PLAN WORKING
The Commissioner has said that there was also a reduction of homicides in the Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew. He has attributed the success to the initiatives of the National Crime Plan which was launched on December 1, 2001.
The Gleaner/Don Anderson poll has found that more than 56 per cent of all persons interviewed cite crime and violence as the biggest problem that the country faces at this time. Further, over 73 per cent are of the opinion that Government was not doing enough to fight crime, compared to 15 per cent who feel that a good effort is being made.
The poll, conducted between February 28 and March 20, involved interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 persons across the island's 14 parishes. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 per cent.
