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JFJ wants new police commissioner to focus on human rights policing

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JFJ Executive Director Mickel Jackson
By Halshane Burke 
  
Lobby group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) wants the new police commissioner to place attention on human rights policing.
 
Dr. Kevin Blake was this week named successor to Commissioner of Police Major General Antony Anderson who demits office next week.
 
JFJ Executive Director Mickel Jackson has called for Dr. Blake to redouble efforts in tackling gang violence and domestic disputes, which have been significant contributors to the crime rate in the country. 
 
"Reducing the crime rate does not mean that we take on that paramilitary, hard policing, and we would want to get a sense from JFJ that Dr. Blake again would be adopting that human rights approach that will be quite critical in improving the relationship and the relations within the community, where you seek increased respect for law enforcement, and of course increased and improved working relationship with the citizens and the police," she proposed.
 
She said that the relationship between residents and the police must be one where the residents feel safe to give information and are trusting and respectful of law enforcement. But the police must work to build this camaraderie through dialogue and engagement with citizens. 
 
Ms. Jackson added that there needs to be a closer working relationship between the JCF and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).
 
"We hope that there will be greater compliance with INDECOM, especially ensuring that INDECOM is so apprised of any disciplinary measures that perhaps were undertaken during their recommendation to the police high command. We also hope that Dr. Blake would be speaking to the need for greater use of body worn cameras and ensuring that the footage they are so turned over to INDECOM, because that is also an important part of accountability," she asserted. 


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