JCF struggling to find suitable young recruits, says SSP Josephs
Published:Saturday | October 29, 2022 | 12:07 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Senior Superintendent Wayne Josephs, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, says the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is having a challenge finding suitable young people to enlist among its ranks.
He shared that position while addressing participants during a peace march in the parish capital, Savanna-la-Mar, on Thursday.
“Right now, the JCF is on a large recruitment drive to get young people – men and women – to join up with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and it has been a challenge so far,” said Josephs. “It is very challenging in getting persons to come.”
He acknowledged that some people might not be aware of the various recruitment drives and appealed to citizens to assist the police to build out its capacity by sharing such information with their neighbours.
“If you know of any young men and women who want to join the JCF, encourage them to come forward,” Josephs said during the peace march, which was led by the Westmoreland Neighbourhood Watch Council, the umbrella community-based organisation for all neighbourhood watch groups in the parish.
“Please, I am appealing to the public to assist us with our recruitment drive going forward because we want to improve and increase the capacity of the force,” he pleaded.
“It is not just in Savanna-la-Mar; it is right across the island,” the senior cop explained. “Encourage them to go to the police stations and check it out because we need decent young men and women to enhance the capacity of the JCF.”
In an effort to help achieve its target of enrolling 1,300 new cops this year, the JCF has turned to high schools where recruitment drives have already been conducted in Westmoreland, Clarendon, St Elizabeth, Manchester, Trelawny, St Mary and St Ann.
Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson advised during a recent stakeholders meeting in Westmoreland that anyone who has the intention to serve in the police force must be fit and proper and should be able to pass a polygraph test.