From Force to Service: Transforming the Jamaican Police

If Jamaica is to significantly lower the rates of homicide and other violent crimes, and weaken the power of criminal networks
in the society, a renewed attempt at a thorough transformation of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is unavoidable. This
transformation should bring the force more in line with democratic policing principles and methods of work, and make it
more effective as an instrument of crime prevention and control. The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has initiated a process
which is intended to produce a Police Service Act. The GOJ has provided some cues for the direction of the new Act, which
are to transform the JCF from a “force” into a “service,” and to transform policing from a basis on the doctrine of national
security to policing based on the idea of citizen security. The policy instructions for the new Act also include making the
police service “intelligence-led.” This report is not a prescription for the transformation of the consistently active and fairly well-resourced groups such as the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA) and other private sector groups which try to influence national security policy. Thus the report is intended to contribute to the process becoming more participatory and deliberative with regard to the principles that should govern policing in Jamaica, and to thereby increase the demand for these principles to be given the force of law, and that the new Police Service Act is crafted as an instrument for the transformation of the JCF.