JCF Now a ‘Regional Leader In Policing Innovation’ – Prime Minister
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has emerged as a regional exemplar in law enforcement transformation, crediting nearly a decade of strategic investments in leadership, technology, and doctrine. Speaking at the JCF Transformations Expo in Kingston, Dr Holness described the event as a visual representation of what he called “nine years of strategic planning backed by a budget.”
He noted that many of the Force’s recent gains, including the reduction in murders, are the outcome of a long-term, deliberate process, rather than sudden or isolated actions.
“What you’re seeing today is the culmination of nine years of strategic planning,” he said. “This display is important for the public to appreciate and understand the value of the investment made.” He added, “They believe that somehow the reduction in murders happened overnight… and that is absolutely not the case.”
A major pillar of the transformation, Prime Minister Holness explained, is the Force’s full adoption of technology. “One thing is clear, that the JCF has now fully internalised and mainstreamed technology. There is a culture of embracing and utilising technology.” He went further to state that the next frontier involves developing the capacity to innovate. “Very soon, the JCF will be able to export some of its knowledge and capabilities to support other law enforcement entities in the region,” he said. “The JCF is being positioned to become the leading technology force in law enforcement in the region.”
Leadership, Doctrine and Culture
Beyond infrastructure and innovation, the Prime Minister emphasised that the Force’s transformation is deeply cultural, driven by what he called a “doctrine of excellence.” He noted that the Government has invested heavily in developing a new tier of leadership across the security forces—including the JCF, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), and Jamaica Customs. “They want to do a good job. They want to be seen and respected and acknowledged, and they are passionate about bringing down crime,” he said. “You’re looking at a new tier of leadership within the JCF that could do well in any other force in the world.” At the core of this doctrine, he added, is a deep respect for human rights and public trust. “Another important doctrine, which is to serve and protect—the respect for human life, the respect for people’s rights—that is being mainstreamed as well.”
Dr Holness also pointed to the expanded size and enhanced retention of the JCF and JDF as further indicators of progress. “When we took over, the JDF was somewhere in the region of about 4,000. Now, the JDF is close to 8,000. The JCF was in the region of about 9,000. Now the JCF is at its establishment of 14,000,” he said. “The attrition rate in the JCF was very high. Now the attrition rate is very low. That didn’t happen overnight.”
Dismantling Gangs Strategically
The Prime Minister identified gangs as the single greatest strategic threat to Jamaica’s national security, stating that more than 80 per cent of murders are attributable—directly or indirectly—to gang activity. But he pushed back on what he called a romanticised public narrative. “The notion that the public has about gangs is that they are somehow a grouping of marginalised young persons… That’s not the case,” he said. “To buy an M-16 rifle and to import it from the United States—that’s not a poor man’s endeavour.” These are, he explained, organised criminal enterprises with financial resources, intelligence, and connections.
In response, Dr Holness said the Government has restructured the Force to be more agile and capable of targeting strategic threats. “We invested in investigative capabilities. We invested in forensic capabilities. We invested in special operations and tactical capabilities,” he said, pointing to newly created units such as EFNET and the implementation of seven Zones of Special Operations (ZOSOs) as examples. These interventions, he argued, have had a ripple effect, lowering crime even in communities not directly targeted. “Having controlled those seven communities, it has had a spill over impact on the other 13 communities that we had initially targeted.”
Institutionalising Reform
The Prime Minister revealed that national security spending had nearly tripled in the past nine years—from an average of $28 billion annually before 2016 to nearly $90 billion in the years since. “What sustains it? It’s the economy,” he said. “Economy keeps you safe. Economy keeps you fed. Economy gives you good roads. It’s all about the economy.” He linked the sustainability of these reforms to both continued economic growth and institutional permanence. “If you want change to last, you must build institutions… and that means you put systems in place, rules in place, and you put proper people in place who develop a doctrine.”
To reinforce continuity, he cited the revitalisation of the National Security Council, now a subcommittee of Cabinet. “We brought in all the law enforcement entities… so what you’re seeing being built out is a national security network. Never before has our national security been so sophisticated.” He explained that the JCF must now evolve to the point where it can generate its own leaders from within—leaders who are native to the transformation and capable of sustaining it.
Turning to public trust, the Prime Minister emphasised the need for police officers to reflect the values of the institution in their daily interactions. “Once we get rid of that [mindset of] ‘Hey boy, come here’ out of the Force, then you are going to see a greater unity of purpose between the citizen and the police,” he said. “There is an attempt to always create a dissonance between the people and their security forces. Criminals like that space. Our job now is to close out that space.”
Dr Holness closed by acknowledging that achieving peace will take more than just law enforcement. “The JCF is critical to public order, critical to public safety, critical to supporting commerce,” he said, “but there are some other strategies that we have to put in place to deal with this whole issue of social violence.” He called on ministries such as Education, Health, and Culture to join the effort to build a Jamaica where violence is no longer a first resort in conflict resolution. “In 10 years, you will see a different Jamaica than the Jamaica we have now.”
