Police graduations in limbo - Trainees bewildered by months-long silence even as force ramps up recruitment
Published:Wednesday | February 5, 2020 | 12:11 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Trainees of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) who are performing direct police duties beyond the initial four months of practical training have expressed frustration that their confirmation has been in limbo for months.
Several trainees with whom The Gleaner spoke were enrolled in the eight-month training regimen, four of which are undertaken at the National Police College of Jamaica and the rest as practicals as station guard duties, beat and mobile patrol, among other services.
The hold-up coincides with the Government’s increasing mandate on the constabulary to rein in violent crime, including the imposition of states of emergency in eight of 19 police divisions.
The trainees, whose identity has been withheld for fear of sanction by police superiors, said they had gone months without undergoing a graduation exercise and have faced a wall of silence from officialdom.
A trainee told The Gleaner that there were two batches of trainees in his division, with some enlisted in February and others in March 2019.
“We haven’t seen anyone in charge of training come to us and say why we are being withheld in training so long,” the trainee said.
“Some of us are working the regular 11-hour and 14-hour shifts, and mind you, we aren’t paid the regular police salary,” he added.
Checks by our news team unearthed that trainees are paid roughly $80,000 gross, while police constables collect about $120,000 per month, or 50 per cent more.
The trainees also contend that they feel imprisoned, with strict guidelines governing movement.
“You can’t leave the division unless you apply to leave, and that is at the discretion of superiors, even if you have a day off. Some of us work 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. We have a curfew time of 8 p.m.,” the trainee said.
TREATED LIKE SECOND-CLASS POLICE
The Gleaner understands that there are six cohorts in training, which include batches 121-126.
The last set who graduated were the 146 trainees in Batch 120 in August 2019.
Other trainees said the number one question they are faced with from family and friends, is when the ceremony will be held for which they have no answer.
“We need some answers, we just don’t know. Even if we are allowed to stay in the division, we need little freedom. When it’s our day off, we should be able to leave the division and go home and come back,” another trainee said.
The trainee said that they are tired of being treated as second-class police.
“We need some answers from the person in charge of training. We are tired to be used and pushed around. They keep recruiting people and seemingly they don’t know what they want to accomplish.
“Why recruit so many of us and don’t know what to do with us? We heard rumours that the second to last week in December we were to leave, [but] we are still here and nobody in authority has said anything,” a trainee revealed.
The Gleaner contacted Superintendent Merrick Watson, commandant at the National Police College of Jamaica, late last week, but he was non-committal on redress for the trainees.
“That (graduation information) will be communicated to them very shortly, and that is all I can say right now,” he said.
In an effort to increase its complement to 18,000 members by 2024, the first recruitment drive of 2020 was held on January 18 at the Twickenham Park training facility in St Catherine.
The JCF, via an Instagram post last week, said it was still in recruitment mode.
“ … The constabulary is looking for persons with good values, positive attitudes, and the right motivation to serve. Do you believe you are #AForce4Good?” it read.
The JCF currently has approximately 12,000 members.