KINGSTON, Jamaica — Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Andrew Holness has expressed concern that as many as 800 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) may be leaving the force this year. “Just today I did some research, and I am told that the attrition rate in the police force is over 800 this year. Eight hundred policemen have decided to leave the police force,” Holness told the crowd at Sunday night’s JLP mass rally in May Pen, Clarendon. “If you want to fight crime, you have to make the crime-fighters happy. If you want to fight crime, you have to make the police feel appreciated and motivated,” Holness stated.
“And so the Labour Party makes a commitment that we will look very closely at the remuneration of police. We will look very closely at the conditions and terms of service of policemen to ensure that they are comfortable in the fight against crime,” he added. Holness also referred to the armed robbery of the JLP councillor for the Mocho Division of the Clarendon Parish Council, businesswoman Henene Simpson, on Saturday, and commented that not many Jamaicans are as lucky she was. “Not many Jamaicans are so lucky, because crime is out of control in this country. Whenever the People’s National Party is in power murder rises; whenever the PNP is in power crime rises; and I keep telling people that you have a greater chance of being murdered in Jamaica than being hit by a car,” he said.
“We believe that there is a lot that we can do to solve crime in this country,” Holness said. “There is a lot that we can do to bring down murders in this country. There is a lot that we can do to make you safer in your own homes and public spaces. “The first thing that we have to do is to let our policemen feel appreciated again. The morale among policemen is very low,” he added.
Balford Henry
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