EDITORIAL - Yes, broaden search for police chief

There would be nothing retrograde, as Dick Hibbert, a one-time deputy commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), claims, to recruit globally for a police chief to succeed Owen Ellington, whose dramatic decision to go into early retirement was announced 10 days ago.

Indeed, in the context of Jamaica's police force, it would be an eminently sensible thing to do. For by widening the pool from which to choose, we would enhance the prospect of finding the best talent for what, everyone concedes, is a difficult and complex job in an institution that has been stubbornly resistant to change and modernisation.

The need for someone who is not only skilled, but who enjoys the full confidence of all stakeholders, is of added gravity given the hazy circumstances of Mr Ellington's departure.

In any event, broadening the search to find the best ought not to be a policy applied to the police force in this specific instance. It should be a fundamental principle adhered to generally except for very few circumstances.

Jamaica's police force, though, requires specific attention. With a reputation for corruption and abuse, it has been the subject of review and reform projects for more than two decades. But despite the declarations of improvement, however justified these may be, the problems persist.

Police homicide, for instance, provides a worrying prism through which to view the JCF. Annually, Jamaica's police kill around 250 citizens, most of whom, they say, are criminals who engage them in gunfights. Even in a situation of improvement such as the 40 per cent decline in police killings in this year's first half, there were more than 70 police homicides. That would be a chilling statistic in most jurisdictions. Rights groups insist that many of the police killings are wanton murder.

Notably, Mr Ellington's declared reason for leaving, four years into the job and nine years ahead of his normal retirement age, is to ensure that there could be no claims that he interfered in an investigation that a death squad operated in one police division during his watch, as well as not to compromise the force during a public enquiry into the 2010 operation into west Kingston in which at least 75 civilians died.

No baggage for new commish

The former public defender had claimed that many of those deaths were extrajudicial killings committed by the police and/or the army. But there is a deepening presumption, denied by neither the Government nor Mr Ellington, that Jamaica's external partners, especially the United States and Britain, may have put pressure for Mr Ellington to be pushed or that he be made to jump.

Whatever the truth of these claims, even if unjustified, it is critical that whoever comes to the job does so without the baggage and impediments that impair trust even before he begins. There is no time to be lost overcoming cynicism - whether it arises from perceptions of the chief being beholden or loyal to batchmates, that he or she may have personally misbehaved, or may have turned a blind eye to indiscretions by colleagues.

Modern policing is a universal, adaptable science, and as the early recruitment of police officers from abroad demonstrated, there is value in the cross-fertilisation of skills. Furthermore, broadening the recruitment neither excludes current members of the JCF nor does it mean a Jamaican won't be selected.

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.