Halt disrespect! Police warned to refrain from uncivil behaviour toward the public

Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer

SEEKING TO stamp out the widespread practice of police personnel disrespecting members of the public, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has put a new policy in place to guide police-public interactions.

The Police Public Interaction Policy and Standard Operation Procedures 2011, which was outlined in the weekly Force Orders released yesterday, details how police personnel should address members of the public during stop-and-search procedures.

Under the policy, police personnel are now required to tell citizens their name, rank, the station they are attached to and the reason for the stop-and-search before it is conducted.

The new policy, which carries stiffer sanctions than the code of conduct it replaces, also warns that citizens who visit a police station to make a report should be acknowledged within two minutes.

disrespectful and unprofessional

"Be polite in all areas of your contact with members of the public. Do not use words such as aunt, uncle, big man or boy to address persons that you interact with. It's uncivil, disrespectful and unprofessional and must cease forthwith," Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington warned the men and women under his command.

Ellington made it clear that the policy will take immediate effect and warned that "any departure from these procedures will be viewed as breach of Force Orders and will attract disciplinary action."

Senior Superintendent Norman Heywood, who heads the Research, Planning and Legal Services section of the JCF, which will enforce the new policy, said police commanders islandwide have eight weeks to ensure that their subordinates are fully aware of it.