Editorial | Template for community cops

In analysing last year’s 14 per cent decline in major crimes, including a 19 per cent drop, Kevin Blake, the police chief, attributed some of the gains to the launch of a new “beat officer patrol division”, which has brought “a new sense of visibility and accessibility to policing, especially in high-trafficked and high-risk areas”.

“Beat officers have helped to deter criminal activities and have been instrumental in building trust with the public through consistent engagement in the business community,” Dr Blake said in his video-recorded review of 2024.

The Gleaner is excited by this and by the seeming resurrection of the related bike-patrol initiative. They have echoes, or at least outlines, of the type of community policing for which we have long been advocates but which has been inconsistent on the agenda of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Hopefully, given his acclamation of the project, Dr Blake will find, or be afforded, the resources to seriously extend a version of the programme into communities. In which event, there will be no need to reinvent the wheel.

The JCF already has the template of the Grants Pen, St Andrew on community policing: that project’s initial successes in advancing community-police relations: its lowering of crime; and its slow unravelling substantially because of a redeployment of resources and jaded leadership.

According to the constabulary, there were 1,139 intentional homicides by civilians in Jamaica last year. That, on its face, is an extraordinarily high number. It translates to 42 homicides for every 100,000 people who live in Jamaica – one of the highest rates in the world.

However, this was 265 fewer murders than in 2023, when the homicide rate was over 50 for every 100,000. Further, there were double-digit declines in almost every other facet of major crimes in 2024.

MAINTAIN LAW AND ORDER

The constabulary, Commissioner Blake said, was able to maintain law and order through an enhancement of technical capabilities and programmes like the beat officer patrols, where teams of police officers (usually three or more) walk through malls and critical business districts.

They often enter stores to make entries in logs as proof of their presence, young officers and store managers have told this newspaper.

“In addition, we have modernised our patrol unit with the introduction of new e-bikes,” Dr Blake said in his year-end statement. “These e-bikes have proven to be versatile and efficient, allowing officers to navigate challenging terrain and congested areas while maintaining the agility and responsiveness needed to address criminal activities effectively.”

It is axiomatic in policing that visibility of law-enforcement officers is a deterrent to crime. Further, when citizens know and trust police officers, that helps to build a cooperative partnership against criminals.

Indeed, this is the basic foundation of community police and the one upon which the JCF, in collaboration with civil society organisations and private-sector groups, led by the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AmCham), built on at the start of the 2000s with the Grants Pen initiative.

Following an analysis of policing activities in the volatile community by the American law enforcement research organisation Police Executive Research Forum, a model police station was built in the community, with a recreational/community centre, banking facilities, an Internet café, and an adjacent health centre.

PATROLLED THE COMMUNITY

At the time, 70 officers were assigned to the Grants Pen station, some of whom walked or patrolled the community on bicycles. Grants Pen’s ratio of police to citizens was 1:100 against the national average of 1:300. The station’s officers received special training in community policing, including the de-escalation of tensions.

Grants Pen was to be the template for policing in Jamaica. Although a few model police stations, in the Grants Pen mould, have been built, the overall model, especially the police-community aspect of it, has not been effectively sustained. One reason for this, law enforcement policy officials have argued, was their inability to commit the resources to the initiative.

We appreciate Commissioner Blake’s assurances of the improved operational strategies of the JCF and the integration of its work with that of intelligence agencies. This should mean a targeted approach to crime fighting.

However, as the police chief knows better than most, the philosophical basis of modern policing is that it is done with the consent of those who are policed – the community. The foundation of this is trust, a powerful ingredient of which is human engagement. As is the case with those beat patrol officers who have enjoyed, or over time will enjoy, the confidence of the store managers and employees with whom they engage, thus enhancing their ability to solve crimes when they occur.

Moreover, as Dr Blake said, their visibility itself is deterrence.

If that works in malls and corporate business districts, it is a good bet that it will also work in communities.