#DecisionJa2016: Police Reminded To Display Professionalism Today

Sergeant Donovan Shaw (left) and Corporal Warren Chong after casting their ballots at Harman Barracks in St Andrew this morning.
Sergeant Donovan Shaw (left) and Corporal Warren Chong after cast­ing their bal­lots at Harman Barracks in St Andrew this morning.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — With police, sol­diers and elec­tion day work­ers sched­uled to vote in the island’s 17th gen­er­al elec­tion today, the police high com­mand yes­ter­day remind­ed mem­bers of the con­stab­u­lary to con­duct them­selves in a pro­fes­sion­al man­ner and refrain from any activ­i­ties that may cast a shad­ow over the organisation.

Clifford Blake, deputy com­mis­sion­er of police who has respon­si­bil­i­ty for strate­gic oper­a­tions, said that while cops have the right to vote for the par­ty of their choice, there are a num­ber of things for which the Jamaica Constabulary Force has adopt­ed a zero tol­er­ance approach. One of them was the dis­play by any of its mem­bers pub­licly, or on social media, of alle­giance to any polit­i­cal par­ty Noting that the prac­tice could lead to severe pun­ish­ment, Blake said they have received reports of one such case and it is being inves­ti­gat­ed. “Members of the secu­ri­ty forces are ful­ly aware of the mat­ter. They have been briefed in the Force Orders to refrain from such prac­tice,” Blake told OBSERVER ONLINE. He said the police were “ready and ful­ly pre­pared” for today’s activ­i­ties and added that they were close­ly watch­ing sev­er­al hot spots across the island to pre­vent ten­sions ris­ing between sup­port­ers of the country’s two main polit­i­cal par­ties. Read more here : #DecisionJa2016: Police remind­ed to dis­play pro­fes­sion­al­ism today