Chuck: Every JP should be attached to a police station
Published:Friday | December 30, 2022 | 1:27 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Justice Minister Delroy Chuck is issuing a call for justices of the peace (JPs) to work more closely with their local police stations in an effort to curb crime and violence in the communities they serve and throughout the wider Jamaica.
Speaking at Thursday’s commissioning ceremony for 43 new JPs in St James, Chuck said that each custos should ensure that all JPs in his or her parish are assigned to a police station to strengthen the partnership against criminal elements.
“The rights and freedoms of many of our citizens in many communities are being pushed over by violence producers, who believe that because they have guns, they can dictate to communities, and that is something we have to take up and face head-on. Not only must you ensure that justice is done across many communities, but you must now work very closely with other stakeholders, especially the police, in ensuring that we have peace across every neighbourhood and community across Jamaica,” Chuck told the newly commissioned justices.
“I will be urging the custodes that every JP should really attach themselves to one of the many police stations across Jamaica, and every police station should have a community police management group. I am urging you to be peacemakers, not to go out there and do police work, but you must be the ears and eyes and voice of your community,” Chuck stressed. “Where you know of abuses, where you know of criminality, corruption, indiscipline, disorder, and lawlessness, bring it to the attention of the police. Do not try to solve it, because that is police work, but with your eyes and ears, use your voice to report it to the police.”
That admonition echoes a previous charge Chuck made in April to JPs in Clarendon during the launch of that parish’s Justice of the Peace Association (JPA), where he urged the members to do more in the fight against crime and violence.
The minister also suggested at Thursday’s ceremony that JPs should actively form and strengthen parish-level associations in order to widen their effectiveness in their respective parishes.
“I know that individually you might not be able to accomplish much, but in truth, the world has been made a better place because of individuals who have made a difference. But collectively, you can do more, and that is why over the last few years, we have decided – the custodes and myself – to ask each parish to have an organised JPA, and every single JP is not only eligible but entitled to be a member of that association,” said Chuck.
“It is that collective body that can help you to shine even more. In other words, individually you can achieve only so much, but working together, you can achieve exponentially much more,” Chuck added. “Jamaica needs your help, and it needs the help of every single decent law-abiding Jamaican.”
In June 2021, Chuck had recommended that parish-level JPAs and lay magistrate associations should operate under one umbrella, running counter to a call from the Lay Magistrate Association of Jamaica (LMAJ) for the two groups to continue acting independently of each other.
At that time, Chuck had said that the LMAJ does not represent all JPs, and that only the parish-level JP association represents all JPs in a given parish.