Work with the police to save the country, Commish begs J’cans
Published:Sunday | April 26, 2020 | 12:20 AMLivern Barrett - Senior Gleaner Writer
The outbreak of the new coronavirus in Jamaica has meant increased workload for the brave men and women of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Along with normal law-enforcement duties, cops are now on the front line of the push to contain the spread of the respiratory ailment.
Since March 10, when the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed locally, cops have been tasked with helping the health ministry track persons who may have been exposed to the virus, escorting health workers into areas with suspected cases, manning the streets and policing the citizens to ensure that there is adherence to the Government-issued implementation strategies, and lately doing temperature checks.
And that’s the main reason police chief Major General Antony Anderson wants all Jamaicans, even if they disagree, to conform to the measures imposed by the Government to help stop the spread of the virus.
“What this COVID-19 crisis has done is to expand our role. We don’t have any extra police officers so we really need persons to assist us in this process, and the best way of assisting us is to just follow the rules … just comply with what is laid down,” he urged.
“Even if you don’t agree with some of the measures, it doesn’t matter. Just follow them for the time being. We have to understand that things are now completely different and as we go along, it keeps shifting.”
Olive Branch
Anderson, the former army chief-turned-police commissioner, extended an olive branch of sorts, disclosing that his directive to cops on the ground is that enforcement should not always be the first move.
Up to yesterday, Jamaica had 288 confirmed cases of COVID-19, which resulted in six deaths. St Catherine, which leads all parishes with 162 cases, has been under lockdown since April 15. Other measures imposed by the Government include nightly all-island curfew, a ban on gatherings of more than 10 persons, and the mandatory wearing of face masks in public.
“This is not a crisis that we are going to enforce our way out of. Largely, we have been enforcing when people just refuse to follow the rules. Our first intervention, however, is usually to tell the person this is the rule and you need to comply,” Anderson told The Sunday Gleaner.
“Mostly, we are providing guidance to people because the truth is, even with the best will in the world and the best communication strategy, there are some people who didn’t hear the orders, don’t really know, some people are scared, some people aren’t sure, some people have a need and you see them out there, and some people don’t even know how to get home.”
This posture, the police commissioner acknowledged, has helped to enhance the relationship between cops on the ground and the citizens they serve. The result is that the JCF, through its COVID-19 Command Centre, is seeing more and more citizens coming forward with information about possible breaches of the containment measures.
“The population has been relying on us a lot to provide support outside of enforcement. If they see somebody strange in a community, they call us,” said Anderson, embracing a call by Paula Llewellyn, director of public prosecutions, for more Jamaicans to become ‘informas’ and alert the authorities when they observe breaches of the control measures.
But citing, as an example, the mad rush of some residents who fled St Catherine before the lockdown went into effect, Anderson is urging citizens not to run and hide if they believe they had contact with someone displaying symptoms of the coronavirus.
“It’s something to come forward with so we can assist you in managing. You need support, you need not to infect other people, and there is a whole mechanism that can support you,” he advised.
“You hear that people who may have come in contact with a possible COVID-19 patient are fleeing to the far corners of the island. That’s a bit ridiculous. There is no punishment for having COVID.”