SSP Josephs wants JCF to target schools for recruits

WESTERN BUREAU:

WITH THE Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) ongoing recruitment drive not yielding the desired results, Senior Superintendent of Police Wayne Josephs, commander for Westmoreland Police Division, wants the initiative to be taken into the nation’s schools in the hope of attracting students.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony for the recently concluded Westmoreland Primary School Cricket Competition, Josephs urged teachers to encourage students to consider a career in the JCF.

“As for the JCF, we are having challenges getting persons to come forward to apply, so I want the teachers to know that they can invite us into the schools, and we can tell you about the career paths in the JCF,” he said.

Josephs also pointed out that policing is much more than what they see on a day-to-day basis, such as police officers doing traffic duties or arresting persons for crimes.

“The JCF is so diverse. There are so many departments within the JCF that you would not know. We have the cybercrime unit, we have the fraud unit, we have the counter-terrorism unit, we have MOCA (Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency), we have MID (Major Investigation Division). We have many departments within the force, so you can consider it an option also when you are considering a career path,” said Josephs.

Josephs said the police fully support events that students are involved in, as well as their schools and other educational institutions because it allows them to instil positive values and steer students away from gangs and other negative distractions.

“The police support any initiative like this (the cricket competition) because, with the emerging of gangs in schools and all other types of distractions that are in schools nowadays, it is things like these, sports and music, that can help to keep the children occupied and steer them in a positive direction,” said Josephs.

In recent years, Westmoreland has become notorious for the number of students who have dropped out of school to become gangsters and active participants in illicit schemes, such as the lottery scam, and drug smuggling.

Some schools and sporting bodies in Westmoreland have lost prominent student-athletes to the criminal underworld as get-rich-quick schemes continue to flourish in western Jamaica. Sadly, many of the youngsters who have been lured into nefarious activities end up being killed in gangland violence.

In January, Police Commissioner Major Antony Anderson said the JCF recruited approximately 1,260 constables in the year 2021-22. He said the organisation will be seeking to recruit a similar number for the 2022-23 period.