Look to police youth clubs - top cop

Newly minted Police Officer of the Year, Corporal Neil Brown, has suggested that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) look to the police youth clubs for new members.

Brown, who was speaking shortly after he was named the LASCO/JCF top cop for 2011-2012 during a ceremony at the Wyndham hotel in New Kingston yesterday, said persons joining the JCF should also be required to be members of a police youth club.

These measures, Brown argued, would make the force familiar with the person being recruited "even before they sit the recruitment test".

"I believe that this move will significantly assist in curbing the intake of unscrupulous individuals whose intentions are solely to bring the organisation into disrepute," he asserted.

"Instead of casting a net in the open sea, without a clue of what kind of fish is going to be caught, I propose that we use the police youth club as a specific location where we can go to find the exact quality or type of fishes," he added.

Best organised movements

Describing police youth clubs, started in 1954, as one of the best organised youth movements in Jamaica, Brown said the JCF was not capitalising on its investment in young people.

One police official told The Gleaner yesterday that Brown's proposal would narrow the pool from which the JCF can choose new members.

The official conceded that going through the youth clubs would make it easier to do background checks on persons who qualify to serve in the JCF, but argued that the force should not look exclusively to the clubs for new members.

Brown, who is attached to the St Ann Police Division, has been credited with establishing the National Inter-School Brigade in the parish, and has described it as an effective way to mentor young people.

The Police Officer of the Year award programme, which costs LASCO and its affiliated companies more than $5 million annually, is designed to identify and reward policemen and women who demonstrate excellence in policing and community development.