Taking policing to the digital level

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kirk Ricketts, the commanding officer for St Andrew South Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), which comprises the Hunts Bay, Duhaney Park, Olympic Gardens and Seaview Gardens police stations, is on a mission to use information communications technology to lift the standard of living, as well as the quality of police service delivery within the division.

SSP Ricketts, who addressed Thursday’s official launch of Internet service at the Seaward Primary and Infant School on Olympic Way, as well as service to the neighbouring communities of Tower Hill and Cockburn Gardens, spoke about the tremendous potential for enhancing crime-fighting.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS

“As we seek to increase police service delivery to the residents, the Olympic Gardens Police Station is also earmarked to be the second station in this division, the first being the Duhaney Park Police Station, to seek ISO 9001 certification status. We are also targeting, by the end of July 22, to launch the JCF Connect software across the entire division. It is our intention to discard what most people refer to as the ‘big books’ in all of our police stations. We will automate our businesses, using technology to seamlessly integrate the various functions geared towards improving efficiency and effectiveness in police service delivery.

“The access of, and use of, the Internet will be critical in this transformation as we connect faster in real time to access and share information. As such, I am acutely aware of the importance and benefits of access to the Internet, with the police being a major partner in our communities.”

The Internet access was delivered at a cost of $20 million by the Universal Service Fund in collaboration with service provider Digicel, and SSP Rickets vowed to work with residents to ensure that the access sites remain operational.

ISO 9001 is one of the most popular quality management system standards in the world today. It provides a framework for processes to systematically improve all areas of an organisation, with more than one million organisations of all sizes across the world being certified to ISO 9001. Its flexibility means it can drive lasting change within organisations across all sectors.

SSP Ricketts told The Gleaner that the Matilda’s Corner Police Station in the St Andrew Central Division and the Duhaney Park Police Station are involved in a pilot project to attain the much-desired certification.

“What it means is that we are being evaluated by this international grouping to say that whatever we say we do, we deliver consistently every time. So we have been going through a series of audits, and we are cautiously optimistic that we’ll be achieving the certification for Duhaney Park in short order; and we are also trying to look at other stations within the division.”

In respect of the JCF Connect, the Harbour View Police Station in the Kingston East Division is involved in a pilot project that will see it discarding the old station diaries as it moves to full digitisation of all processes. Police Commissioner Antony Anderson has instructed that the St Andrew South Division be the next in line.

“We are working towards launching our JCF Connect in very short order, and we are hoping by the end of July to launch it. So we are going to be doing training very shortly and implementing by then,” SSP Ricketts disclosed.