I have not agreed with much that Mark Shield the British Transplant who was hired years ago as part of the supposed modernization of the Jamaica Constabulary Force had to say over the years.
Truth be told I do not know Shields , he was brought into the department after I took my own leave. I was not opposed to the insertion of Mark Shields and the other transplants into the department because of their personalities or any other reason except .
I simply believed that we could have sought new ideas from sources who had them and integrate them into our circumstances without the negative white overseer imagery a British transplant inspired.
In the Daily Gleaner of Thursday October 20th, Shields wrote a poignant letter to the Editor in which he laments what he sees as a deficit of will on the part of the Jamaica Constabulary Force to change.
In his letter Shields laments what he characterizes as” challenges of weak management processes and a waste of resources for years, but there has not been sufficient will from within the organisation to change”.
Shields argues Commissioner Carl Williams is doing an effective job under the most difficult circumstances. But insists” that until he is supported by effective management structures at all levels of the police service, his efforts will be futile”.
I disagree with his assessment that Williams is doing a good job, but I do agree that ineffective management structures at all levels are rendering his efforts futile.
Simply put , the JCF has been top heavy for years. There has been too many Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners and other top leadership which were producing nothing measurable in my opinion during my stint and long after I exited, to present day.
A leader leads , part of that leadership is to set goals and have strict systems of accountability and mechanisms for removal if targets are not reasonably met.
There are methodologies available today which weren’t available to other top tiered leaders of the past which can aid in getting the Commissioner’s message out if he believes there are political and other structural impediments to his success.
There are far too many people in top leadership positions who are doing nothing to reduce crime. As a former Member I have been making that argument for years .
A police department cannot exist to promote people to top positions simply so that they can attain and keep those positions. Shields spoke to that arguing .
“Sadly, the JCF retains beliefs within the ranks of its senior officers that they are there to serve themselves first and the public somewhere after that. The notion of holding a position with an emphasis on an individual’s value and role rather than rank has not changed”.
I absolutely concur . This particular perception seemed to be the prevailing narrative which existed in the 80’s to early 90’s when I served . People seemed to believe in attaining rank for the sake of attaining rank.
This process allowed for officers to rise to top spots without the ability to do actual policing. They attained rank through currying favor , nepotism, news carrying, sleeping with the boss, servitude to the boss, among other less than meritorious means.
Invariably they end up unable to perform at their rank levels because they did not earn those ranks meritoriously.
The unintended consequences of this is that people who entered with the best intentions and demonstrated with consistent effectiveness, best practises became demoralized.
Most left the department. Left in their wake were and are some of the people who had no clue what they were doing or how to do the job effectively.
The job of policing was left to people totally unprepared to a large extent to do the job.
If you cannot do the job you cannot teach people to do it effectively either.
Shields listed some recommendations which this writer has made in this very forum for years. Quote: “There are a few recommendations of what may be done to change course. None of them are new but merely a regurgitation of ideas put forward by myself and others for over ten-years”:
See recommendations here:http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/letters/20161020/letter-day-jcf-needs-will-within-change
There is a strain within the Jamaican society which inarguably has always seen itself above the laws.
It’s one of the issues I have consistently pointed to as part of the garden salad of issues which has contributed to the culture of crime in our country.
This Elitist cadre of people have always believed that the laws were only applicable to the lower class of people. Some may incorrectly believe that this was or is a color thing.
It has not been wholly so. Some of the people who actually think that way have far more melanin in their skin than I have yet they bought into a cultural perception which existed and has been left there as a low hanging fruit to be utilized.
Some of the qualifying characteristics for this immunity from the rule of law have been education, political affiliation and now even owning an illegal gun has become a qualifier.
The Police for its part has not grown up from it’s infancy . By refusing to nip corruption and incompetence in the bud it by default created INDECOM , as a force against itself.
By refusing to change into a professional Agency which can deliver the services for which it is paid it has relegated itself to being supervised even more.
This is the reason I have said time and again that for the most part the top-tier of the Police department has been incompetent and needs to go.
As long as the JCF refuses to be a grown-up it will forever be subject to adult supervision, and not necessarily adults who have it’s interest at heart .
We have seen what this kind of supervision looks like.…