EDITORIAL - Where is CISOCA when needed?

Once it was believed that the community-policing approach would build partnerships with members of troubled areas of the country in a huge crime-solving, crime-reduction effort.

However, despite the much-vaunted community-policing programme, which was touted as part of the overall corporate strategy of the constabulary, neighbourhoods across the country are presenting with a shattered, unhealthy image, and public safety has never been more compromised.

From domestic murders to gang-related activity to lottery scamming to pornography involving schoolchildren, week after week the country hears about another community in crisis. The state of affairs raises doubts about the effectiveness of the police in general, and the community-policing strategy, in particular.

For community policing to work, there has to be solid trust among all the parties. Relations between the police and many inner-city communities are at their lowest at this time partly because of the regularity with which citizens are killed during police operations. There is a sense that the police do not treat inner-city residents with respect. Along with trust, there needs to be mutual respect.

The community-policing initiative has been implemented over many years and it would be interesting to find out if the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has been evaluating its effectiveness. Is there need to rethink some aspects of the programme? Is there commitment to use this programme to build interpersonal relationships between the police and citizens?

No knowledge of existence

Take recent news about alleged pornographic activity in certain Clarendon communities. How could these videos be in wide circulation without the police knowing of their existence? And if the police were aware that minors were being used in such nefarious activities, why was nothing done to capture and punish the adults behind this evil project?

Community policing suggests the forging of a partnership between the community and the police so that potentially dangerous situations are identified and addressed proactively. But the reality is that deploying community-relations officers to an area does not guarantee that relations between the police and citizens will be better. The officers in the community, and the officers on patrol, appear to be reading from different scripts in carrying out their jobs.

Given the events in Clarendon, the microscope must inevitably turn on the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA). The unit cannot escape scrutiny as we try to understand how the police could have missed these events. Does CISOCA simply sit and wait for reports to filter in, or does the agency actively go into communities to scope out activities and to intervene when necessary? Shouldn't CISOCA be lurking on websites to determine whether paedophiles are using technology to commit sexual offences against minors and bring them to book?

It is likely that CISOCA will say it is starved of resources. The same sentiments are likely to be echoed by the JCF. All stakeholders have to be committed to the ideal, which means finding resources to ensure that personnel are equipped to do their job.

Building partnerships is one of the critical elements of a community-policing strategy. The JCF must be well aware of how this strategy can work successfully to reduce crime and disorder in society. They need only look at sister CARICOM territory, The Bahamas, where the police have devised a programme incorporating law officers, the Church, private-sector interests, and reformed gang members. The strategy involves patrolling troubled communities seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with the result that criminals are not given any breathing space.

The beat policeman of yore was in touch with his community and always available to citizens. It seems that the end of foot patrols marked a dramatic change in police-citizen relations. Today, the police are more sophisticated, but are they are successful in keeping our communities as safe as the foot patrol officer?

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.