Left: Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security. Center: Commissioner Thomas Right: Colonel Trevor MacMillan

Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security, responding to startling revelations of corrupt deeds practised by a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) who confessed in an article published in The Sunday Gleaner, has said the force needs to send a strong signal in its fight against corrupt cops by targeting senior officers who are engaged in the practice.

While commending the Professional Standards Branch (PSB), the arm of the force charged with responsibility for tackling corruption in the JCF, for a good start in pursuing corrupt policemen and women, Mr. Smith said the unit, however, had not been able to charge or have dismissed one senior police officer.

Disappointed

"To my sure knowledge, corruption runs from the bottom almost to the top. I am so disappointed that the Office of Professional Responsibility has not been able make an example of one of those corrupt officers by having one identified, fingered, charged and dismissed," Smith said in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.

Headlined: 'Confession of a corrupt cop', the story published on Sunday gave a detailed account of devious practices of a member of the force who also exposed some shady activities carried out by his colleagues to enrich themselves.

Since its publication on Sunday, this paper has had an overwhelming response from concerned members of the public through letters and telephone calls, raising alarm about the alleged occurrences and the depth of the corruption in the JCF.

Mr. Smith said he was not jolted by the confession, noting that corruption in the force flourished because some persons continued to feed the practice.

He said "weeding out corruption in the police force" would be a major policy position of a Jamaica Labour Party administration.

Admitting that it was a difficult problem to solve because of the 'code of silence' among JCF members, Mr. Smith insisted that changes had to be made.

Meanwhile, communications consultant with the JCF, Karl Angel, has restated the force's commitment to rid the organisation of corruption. He pointed out that on more than one occasion, Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas had made public utterances about the problem and efforts made to deal with the problem.

Mr. Angel explained that Commissioner Thomas had introduced the PSB, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Novlette Grant, which has made several breakthroughs in arresting police who dabbled in corruption.

He made it clear that the force would leave no stones unturned in its drive to clean up the JCF of corrupt personnel, and would target corruption at whatever level in the organisation.

Last year Commissioner Thomas made a stunning disclosure that criminality was rampant in the JCF. He charged that it was not only rank-and- file personnel but that it goes as far up as the officer corps.

Speaking at the Police Federation's 62nd annual general conference on May 31, 2005 in Montego Bay, St. James, Mr. Thomas charged that police personnel were selling ammunition to criminals and that some were even using the service vehicles to transport illegal drugs.

Opposition Senator Colonel Trevor MacMillan recently called for whistle-blower legislation for the police force to weed out corrupt cops, arguing that the elimination of corruption in the JCF would go a far way in solving the problem of crime in Jamaica.

Col. MacMillan, a former commissioner of police, said that members who came forward with information on their colleagues were routinely intimidated and victimised.

He suggested that under the whistle-blower legislation, a unit could be set up in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to handle disclosures and carry out investigations.