Police bodyguards to be redeployed for crime fight
Published:Thursday | October 7, 2021 | 12:12 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
In a policy shift, Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang has announced plans to revamp the Protective Services Division of the police force and to redeploy trained officers to the front line of crime fighting.
In a statement to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Chang reported that the Cabinet examined and approved the Public Officials Protection System Policy (POPS).
He said that POPS would provide an objective, assessment-based framework for providing close-protection support to public officials.
Chang said that an internal assessment by the Jamaica Constabulary Force in 2020 showed that the Protective Services Division ranked among the largest police divisions with a complement of 515 police personnel.
He said the deployment of trained police officers to carry out close-protection support for public officials had resulted in the underutilisation of law enforcers who were trained to fight crime.
Chang said that this system was untenable and did not serve the best interests of the police, public officials, or the wider Jamaican society.
“The people in the communities who are being tormented by gang violence need these police officers to protect them. Public officials who need this kind of protective support will benefit from a trained close-protection officer; they do not necessarily require a police officer,” said Chang.
The national security minister pointed out that the support now being provided to public officials by experienced police officers could be done by a trained close-protection officer.
Chang observed that threats against public officials in Jamaica were low.
The national security minister said that certain public officials would automatically receive police protection without a threat assessment.
These officials are identified in the policy as Mandated Public Officials and include the governor general, prime minister, deputy prime minister, the leader of the Opposition, and their respective spouses.
Under the new policy, a ‘low’ threat assessment is negligible and does not require deployment of police officers.
According to Chang, these officials might require some degree of protective support, which could be sourced from a private close-protection service provider.