Jamaica: The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), including effectiveness and government efforts to strengthen the force (2011-2015)

1. Overview

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is Jamaica's police force, which is overseen by the Ministry of National Security (US 27 Feb. 2014, 7; Jamaica n.d.a). Sources indicate that in 2011, the JCF had a staff complement of approximately 9,900 members (UN 2012, 95; Jamaica 5 January 2011), while the website of the JCF noted the "current strength" in 2011 to be 8,441 (ibid.). Media sources from late 2014 indicate approximately 11,000 members in the JCF (AP 7 Dec. 2014; The Gleaner 16 Sept. 2014). According to a 2012 study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) of seven Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, the ratio of police officers to civilians in Jamaica was 1 officer per 273 inhabitants, which was the lowest police presence per capita of the seven Caribbean countries surveyed (UN 2012, 95).

According to the JCF's annual report for 2013, the force has a number of specialized branches, divisions and taskforces including, among others, the Anti-Corruption Branch, the Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption (MOCA) Task Force, the Transnational Crime and Narcotics Division, Organized Crime Investigation Division, Criminal Investigation Branch, Major Investigation Taskforce, the Centre of Investigation for Sexual Offences and Carnal Abuse, the National Intelligence Bureau, and the Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB) (Jamaica [2014]a, 2-26). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicates that the JCF has divisions for community policing, special response, intelligence gathering, and internal affairs (US 27 Feb. 2014, 7). The same source notes that the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is responsible for marine narcotics interdiction and provides support to the JCF, including conducting joint patrols and checkpoints with the JCF (ibid.).

2. Effectiveness

The UNDP study, which uses data from a 2010 UNDP survey in which over 11,000 people from seven Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, were randomly selected and interviewed, provides information about citizens' perceptions and experiences with the police (UN 2012, 11, 103). Results of the survey in Jamaica include the following:

percent of those surveyed rated the police in Jamaica as "good" or "very good" in the category of respect for citizens' rights (ibid., 103).

14.3 percent said they had "a great deal of confidence" and 62.5 percent said they had "some amount of confidence" in the police to control crime (ibid., 106).

68.5 percent said that the police were "competent" (ibid., 111).

65 percent agreed that there should be an increase in the size of the police force (ibid., 112).

77 percent agreed that there should be more investment in the police (ibid.).

72 percent said there should be more police on the street for security (ibid.).

Of those surveyed who were victims of violent crimes, 61 percent had reported them to the police (ibid., 108). Of those who reported violent crimes to the police, 28.9 percent of males and 26.1 percent of females were satisfied with the actions taken by the police (ibid., 109).

Of those who were victims of property crime, 47 percent had reported them to the police (ibid., 108). Of those who reported property crimes to the police, 56.2 percent of males and 17.6 percent of females were satisfied with the actions taken by the police (ibid., 110).

According to the US Department of State's 2014 Crime and Safety Report for Jamaica, many violent crimes go unreported for a variety of reasons, including fear of retribution (US 19 June 2014, 2). The same source indicates that the police are "unable to patrol and protect most neighbourhoods," and most wealthy residents hire private armed guards to deter burglaries (ibid., 1).

According to the JCF's 2013 annual report, the Major Investigative Taskforce, which is responsible for investigating gun-related murders, investigated 305 cases in 2013 and "cleared up" a total of 112 cases, which included cases from both 2013 and previous years, and made a total of 149 arrests (Jamaica [2014]a, 18). The same source indicates that the Criminal Investigation Branch "solved" 60 percent of its cases in 2013 (ibid.). The 2014 US Crime and Safety Report notes that the police "resolve (make arrests)" in 45 percent of homicide cases annually (US 19 June 2014, 2).

The 2014 US International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) notes that state efforts to combat narcotics trafficking were "only moderately effective in 2013 because of a lack of sufficient resources; corruption; an inefficient criminal justice system; and the inability of lawmakers to adopt meaningful legislation to combat corruption and gangs" (ibid. 2014).

3. Reduction in Crime

2014 sources indicate that Jamaica has seen a reduction in violent crime (IHS Global Insight 22 Oct. 2014; CMC 17 Dec. 2014; Jamaica [2014]b). According to the Associated Press (AP), in 2013, there were 1,197 homicides in Jamaica, down from a high of 1,680 in 2009 (7 Dec. 2014). IHS Global Insight, a global forecasting company that provides "economic, financial, and political coverage" of countries and industries (IHS Global Insight, n.d.), reports that, according to police statistics released on 15 September 2014, there was a 15 percent decrease in homicides in the period from January to September 2014 in comparison to the same period in 2013 (ibid. 22 Oct. 2014). In December 2014, Jamaica's National Security minister reported that there have been "double digit reductions right across the board in all serious and violent crimes in Jamaica" (CMC 17 Dec. 2014). The Minister, speaking on another occasion, said that, in 2014, there were "close to 700 fewer victims of serious and violent crimes ... including murder, shooting, rape and aggravated assault" (ibid. 30 Dec. 2014). According to the Gleaner, a Kingston-based daily newspaper, crime decreased by 40 percent between 2009 and 2014 (16 Sept. 2014).

However, sources indicate that violent crime is high in Jamaica (IHS Global Insight 22 Oct. 2014; US 19 June 2014). Sources note that Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world (ibid.; AP 7 Dec. 2014). The Norman Transcript, a daily newspaper based in Norman, Oklahoma, reports that the city of Kingston, with a murder rate of 47 per 100,000 residents, has the highest homicide rate of cities in the Caribbean and the 33rd highest among cities in the world (11 Oct. 2014). IHS Global Insight notes that the parishes (municipalities) of St. Catherines and St. Andrews, both in the Kingston area, and St. James, of which Montego Bay is the capital, have "very high" murder and violent crime rates (22 Oct. 2014).

4. Efforts to Strengthen Police

Sources indicate that Jamaica has been attempting to reform its police force (UN 2012, 98; US 2014). According to the Ministry of National Security, in December 2008, Jamaica began developing the National Crime Prevention and Community Safety Strategy (NCPCSS), a ten-year plan to reduce crime and violence, which involved input from multiple government ministries, including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, the Social Development Commission, and the JCF'sCSSB, as well as from over 50 consultations with stakeholders, including public and private bodies, NGOs and residents (Jamaica n.d.b). The plan includes several international development partner-funded "social-intervention programs" and "socially-centred" programs operated by the JCF (ibid.). The plan includes initiatives by the JCF for community policing, neighbourhood watch and police youth clubs (ibid.). According to the US INCSR, the Commissioner of the JCF has been making "steady progress" toward reforming the JCF (US 2014).

Several sources indicate that the JCF is pursuing a community policing initiative (ibid. 27 Feb. 2014, 8; ODI May 2014, 23; Jamaica [2014]b). On its website, the JCF states that its corporate strategy "mandates the employment of community policing in its efforts to fight crime in Jamaica" (ibid. 19 Feb. 2013). The Minister of National Security noted in 2014 that the JCF had a 30-40 year history of a militarized-style of policing, but that the force was moving away from that style of policing and placing more emphasis on community-style policing, in order to have a "less combative approach to policing" and to "engender good relations between the police and citizens" (ibid. [2014]b). Country Reports 2013 states that the aim of community policing is "to address the long-standing antipathy between the security forces and many poor inner-city neighbourhoods" (US 27 Feb. 2014, 8).

According to the JCF annual report for 2013, the JCF's Community Safety and Security Branch (CSSB), which is responsible for improving citizenship partnership with the JCF, trained 274 school resource officers and launched 25 Police Youth Clubs, which have a membership of 11,000, as part of their efforts to improve relations with communities (Jamaica [2014]a, 26). According to Country Reports 2013, the school resource officers serve as liaisons between students, faculty, parents and the police and aim to curb school violence (US 27 Feb. 2014, 8). The same source indicates that Jamaica's police academy provided training on community-based policing to new recruits as well as to JCF members taking professional development courses (ibid.).

According to a 2014 study by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), community policing in Jamaica has become "more actively operationalized since 2008" (ODI May 2014, 1). However, the same source notes that, in practice, community policing has not been implemented "force-wide" but is instead carried out by Community Police Officers (CPOs) in the CSSB branch of the JCF (ibid., 13). This source states that Jamaican policing "remains primarily paramilitary in nature" (ibid., 1), and that a "substantive behaviour change" within the police force has been "limited" (ibid., 23).

The Norman Transcript reports that the Jamaican government has been taking a "more confrontational attitude toward the country's gangs" and the government credits a crackdown in 2013 with bringing down the murder rate in some parts of Kingston by 60 percent (11 Oct. 2014). The National Security minister said that the JCF is decreasing the number of curfews imposed on communities and is turning towards "intelligence driven" policing methods (CMC 30 Dec. 2014).

5. Unlawful Killings by Police and Consequences

According to Country Reports 2013, unlawful killings by security forces is one of Jamaica's "most serious human rights issues" and there were "numerous" accusations that security forces had committed "arbitrary or unlawful killings" (US 27 Feb. 2014, 1). Similarly, AP reports that police officers are "routinely accused of indiscriminately using their weapons and intentionally killing suspects" (7 Dec. 2014). Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2013 report also notes that "extrajudicial killings by police" are "a major problem" (2013). The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), an independent governmental agency established in 2010 to investigate allegations against police (AP 7 Dec. 2014; Jamaica 14 Jan. 2014), provides the following statistics on the number of people killed by security forces:

219 in 2012

258 in 2013

103 between 1 January and 31 October 2014 (ibid. 11 Nov. 2014).

Country Reports 2013 indicates that between 2006 and 2013, only one police officer was indicted for an unlawful killing (US 27 Feb. 2014, 2). According to AP, there were more than 2,000 fatal police shootings between 2004 and 2014, but few went to court and "only a handful" resulted in convictions (7 Dec. 2014). According to Amnesty International (AI), out of 2,220 fatal shootings by police between 2000 and 2010, only two resulted in officers being convicted (24 July 2014).

In a report on its activities in 2012, INDECOM commented that its investigations into police shootings were hindered by their reliance on the JCF for "important parts" of the investigations; INDECOM further stated that it found the JCF to be slow, uncooperative and "encouraging collusion" within the ranks (Jamaica 29 Mar. 2013, iii, 7). INDECOM's report criticized JCF policies allowing officers involved in homicides to return to duty a few days after the incidents, before completion of the investigations (ibid., 7). Country Reports 2013states that "[t]he government took steps to investigate and punish members of the security forces who committed abuses, but in many instances a lack of witnesses and insufficient forensics equipment precluded arrests or prosecutions, thus providing the appearance of impunity for police who committed crimes" (US 27 Feb. 2014, 1).

Country Reports 2013 notes that it takes many years for cases against police officers for unlawful killings to go to court, and that lengthy trials for all cases is a "systemic problem" in Jamaica (ibid., 2). Freedom House states that understaffing and a growing backlog of cases "undermine" the justice system (2013). ODI similarly describes the Jamaican justice system as "highly inefficient," and suffering from "serious issues of underfunding" (ODI May 2014, 24). Sources indicate that, in 2013, the backlog of cases was at least 400,000 (ibid.; AP 26 Apr. 2013). Sources also report a conviction rate of 5 percent in homicide cases (ibid.; ODI May 2014, 24; US 2014).

INDECOM notes that the 103 security force-related fatalities in the first ten months of 2014 was a decline of 53 percent from the same time period in 2013 (Jamaica 11 Nov. 2014). AP notes that annual killings by police had not been below 200 since 2004 (AP 7 Dec. 2014). AP reports that the JCF attributed the decrease in fatal shootings by police officers in 2014 to "improved management and increased training on the use of force and respect for human rights" (ibid.). Reported in the Gleaner, the JCF's Head of Corporate Communications Unit attributed the decrease in police-related fatalities in 2014 to the increased use of non-lethal weapons and officers' compliance with the JCF's lethal force policy (8 July 2014). INDECOM's deputy commissioner said that a decrease in early morning raids by heavily-armed police into slums, which frequently resulted in bloodshed, was a factor in the 2014 decrease in police-related fatalities (AP 7 Dec. 2014).

AP describes INDECOM as "increasingly robust" and noted that it is pursuing "high profile investigations against lawmen" (ibid.). Sources report that, in early 2014, INDECOM charged 11 police officers from Clarendon with murder (ibid; AI 24 July 2014). According to AP, following this indictment, there was a "big drop" in fatalities caused by police officers throughout Jamaica (7 Dec. 2014). In April 2014, the Gleaner reported that INDECOM found that nine civilian killings in Clarendon, which were reported as "civilian-on-civilian" casualties, appeared to be cases of "unlawful" killings by the police (1 Apr. 2014). The Gleaner further notes that INDECOM charged 50 police officers with various crimes between January and March of 2014, including four Clarendon police officers who were charged with murder, one of whom was charged with four counts (1 Apr. 2014). In January 2014, the Gleaner reported on allegations made by an anonymous police officer from Clarendon that there were "death squads" within the police, in which senior police officers sometimes ordered killings of criminals, often carried out in early morning raids (19 Jan. 2014). AI said the 11 police officers arrested in Clarendon were suspected of involvement with "death squads" (24 July 2014). For further information on INDECOM, including procedures to report a case of police abuse to INDECOM, see Response to Information Request JAM105062.

Several sources report that Jamaica has established a commission to investigate a state-of-emergency police raid in May 2010 in which 76 civilians died (AI 24 July 2014; CP 30 June 2014; AP 14 Dec. 2014). AP describes the commission as a "truth commission" (ibid.). AP explains that the raid, described as "one of the bloodiest incidents in Jamaica's recent history," occurred in Tivoli Gardens, a slum in West Kingston, as part of a police effort to capture a gang "kingpin" and extradite him to the US (ibid.). According to an interim report released in 2013 by the Office of the Public Defender, there were complaints that 44 of the civilian deaths were unjustifiable homicides (ibid. 24 Feb. 2014; CP 30 June 2014). Sources indicate that the commission panel consists of two jurists and one professor (AI 24 July 2014; AP 14 Dec. 2014). According to AP, the commission began hearing testimony in December 2014 (ibid.).

6. Government Efforts to Address Police Corruption

According to the 2014 US INCSR, the Jamaican police "has suffered from decades of endemic corruption." Similarly, the Gleaner indicates that there is a "[p]erception of wide spread corruption" among the police in Jamaica (16 Sept. 2014).

According to the UNDP study, the Jamaican police has a history of corruption but is "making serious strides in combating internal corruption, and it is achieving fairly good results" (UN 2012, 96). The INCSR says that the Anti-Corruption Branch of the JCF "showed continued success" in 2013 in identifying and dismissing corrupt police officers (US 2014). This report notes that, since the reorganization of the branch in 2008, 490 police officers resigned or were dismissed for corruption or ethical violations (ibid.). In 2013, 36 officers were removed and another 50 faced criminal corruption charges (ibid.). According to the Gleaner, between 1 January and 30 June 2014, 47 police personnel were removed from the JCF because of "corruption-related issues" (16 Sept. 2014).

The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) was formed in August 2014 through the merger of the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force and the Anti-Corruption Branch of the JCF (Jamaica 9 Dec. 2014; AP 4 Aug. 2014). According to the National Security minister, quoted in an article published by AP, the consolidation is intended to "result in greater effectiveness through better use of limited resources" and to "boost law enforcers' capacity to carry out effective investigations on high-profile suspects, 'including the police and those in public office'" (ibid.).

According to MOCA's website, the agency "is focused on targeting major organised criminal networks, those who facilitate their illicit activities and those involved in public sector corruption" (Jamaica 9 Dec. 2014). The Gleaner similarly states that MOCA's mandate is to pursue criminal "kingpins" and to "stamp out corruption" (16 Sept. 2014). According to a December 2014 document on MOCA's website, legislation will be enacted to make the agency "an entirely independent entity, fully empowered to carry out its mandated tasks" (Jamaica 9 Dec. 2014). MOCA operates a toll-free hotline (1-800-CORRUPT), established by the Anti-Corruption Branch in 2009, through which members of the public and police officers can anonymously report police corruption (ibid. n.d.c).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International (AI). 24 July 2014. Jamaica Must Act with Full Transparency on Allegations of Human Rights Violations. (AMR 38/003/2014) [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

Associated Press (AP). 14 December 2014. David McFadden. "Jamaica Truth Commission Explores Bloody Slum Raid." (Factiva)

_____. 7 December 2014. David McFadden. "Jamaica Sees Success in Curbing Killings by Police." (Factiva)

_____. 4 August 2014. "Jamaica Merges 2 Law Agencies for Corruption Fight." (Factiva)

_____. 24 February 2014. David McFadden. "Jamaica Panel to Examine Bloody 2010 Security Raid PC Test." (Factiva)

_____. 26 April 2013. David McFadden. "In Caribbean, Gridlocked Courts Hit by Crime Wave Block Justice and Stall Lives." (Factiva)

Canadian Press (CP). 30 June 2014. "Jamaica Police Commissioner Retiring Ahead of Inquiry into Bloody 2010 State of Emergency." (Factiva)

Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). 30 December 2014. "Jamaican Police Use New Strategies to Deal with Criminals - Minister." (BBC Monitoring Americas/Factiva)

_____. 17 December 2014. "Jamaica Minister Says Government Not to Ease Up on Criminals." (BBC Monitoring Americas/Factiva)

Freedom House. 2013. "Jamaica." Freedom in the World 2013. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

The Gleaner. 16 September 2014. "Respect for All - New Commish Vows to Build Trust in Police." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015]

_____. 8 July 2014. Sheldon Williams. "Killings by Police on the Decline." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015]

_____. 1 April 2014. Jermaine Francis. "Killer Cops - INDECOM: Alleged Police Fatal Shootings Initially Blamed on Civilian Gunmen." [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015]

_____. 19 January 2014. Corey Robinson. "Death Squads." [Accessed 21 Jan. 2015]

IHS Global Insight. 22 October 2014. Laurence Allen Paola Muller. "Positive Signals on Economy and Crime Indicate Potential Improvement in Jamaican Operational Environment." (Factiva)

_____. N.d. "About." [Accessed 5 Feb. 2015]

Jamaica. 9 December 2014. Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA). "Director General's Forward." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

_____. 11 November 2014. Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). Steady Decline in Security Force Related Fatalities. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. 14 January 2014. Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). INDECOM's Statistics on Security Force Related Fatalities--2013. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. [2014]a. Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Annual Report 2013. [Accessed 22 Jan. 2015]

_____. [2014]b. Ministry of National Security. "Community Policing Reaping Significant Benefits: Major Crimes Down." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

_____. 13 March 2013. Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM). Safeguarding the Right to Life: Issues from Investigations of Jamaica's Security Forces in 2012. [Accessed 22 Jan. 2015]

_____. 19 February 2013. Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). "Community Policing." [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. 5 January 2011. Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). "About Us." [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. N.d.a. Ministry of National Security. "Departments and Agencies." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

_____. N.d.b. Ministry of National Security. "National Crime Prevention and Community Safety Strategy (NCPCSS)." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

_____. N.d.c. Major Organised Crime & Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA). "1-800-CORRUPT." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015]

The Norman Transcript. 11 October 2014. Alicia P. Q. Wittmeyer and Elias Groll. "The World's 10 Deadliest Cities." (Factiva)

Overseas Development Institute (ODI). May 2014. Victoria Chambers. Securing Communities and Transforming Policing Cultures: A Desk Study of Community Policing in Jamaica. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

United Nations (UN). 2012. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Caribbean Human Development Report 2012: Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security. [Accessed 19 Jan. 2015]

United States (US). 19 June 2014. Department of State. Jamaica 2014 Crime and Safety Report. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. 27 February 2014. Department of State. "Jamaica." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013. [Accessed 9 Jan. 2015]

_____. 2014. Department of State. "Jamaica." International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR). [Accessed 20 Jan. 2015]

Additional Sources Consulted

Internet sites, including: Caribbean 360; ecoi.net; Human Rights Watch; Jamaica Observer; Organization of American States - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; United Nations - Refworld.