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Can Commissioner Lewin make the quantum leap?
Thursday, January 03, 2008
We are more than pleased by the invitation of Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin to the public to debate his ideas on fighting crime, and his promise to keep open communication with the nation.
Ordinarily, this is a pledge that one would expect from a new head of the police force, especially a savvy one, and the question might well be, "So what's new?"
This, we suggest, is no ordinary police commissioner. Rear Admiral Lewin is going to have to make a quantum leap in order to keep his promise of open communication.
Recall that he is coming from a culture of - perhaps not quite secrecy - but great reticence, as head of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) where that was expected. Neither is any command from the top expected to be questioned in the ranks. It's the nature of the beast.
In fact, during his years as head of the army, Admiral Lewin gave extremely few media interviews that we know of, and even fewer public speeches. To this point, he is not regarded as what we in media call a "media personality".
So we hope that Admiral Lewin is not just playing to the gallery by saying something that should please everyone. Because whether it is a public relations stunt or not, he has hit the nail squarely on the head in identifying the need for open communication with the public.
In disclosing his plans to close some police stations, where desirable, in order to put more policemen and policewomen on the streets, and presumably, in more direct confrontation with criminals, he was quoted in yesterday's edition as saying:
"I believe we need the widest possible discussion, because we are not the repository of all knowledge, and the smallest man out there can come up with some good ideas... One of the things I believe is, when you are contemplating issues that will affect people you need to communicate, and one of my platforms as commissioner of police will be constant communication from me personally, the internal communications within the force, and the force's communication with the public to whom we provide this essential service."
The more the Jamaica Constabulary can get the public talking, the greater will be the fall in the crime rate. There can't be anyone left who does not know that it is impossible to get on top of crime, if the public does not keep the police force informed about criminals and criminal activity.
There is some general agreement that the Jamaican public is hesitant to provide the police with information on criminals and that this reticence is largely caused by fear of reprisal. That, of course, assumes that the information shared with the police will get back to the criminals, or that after the court trial, the police can't protect the witness. In both cases, this spells a crisis of confidence.
To some extent, we saw an improvement of public confidence in the leadership of the force during the tenure of Colonel Trevor MacMillan who, we believe, had a comfort level with the public.
We can't say for sure that that had anything to do with the fact that he came from the army or from just outside the force, but we hope that Commissioner Lewin will enjoy even greater confidence.
For the sake of us all.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
We are more than pleased by the invitation of Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin to the public to debate his ideas on fighting crime, and his promise to keep open communication with the nation.
Ordinarily, this is a pledge that one would expect from a new head of the police force, especially a savvy one, and the question might well be, "So what's new?"
This, we suggest, is no ordinary police commissioner. Rear Admiral Lewin is going to have to make a quantum leap in order to keep his promise of open communication.
Recall that he is coming from a culture of - perhaps not quite secrecy - but great reticence, as head of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) where that was expected. Neither is any command from the top expected to be questioned in the ranks. It's the nature of the beast.
In fact, during his years as head of the army, Admiral Lewin gave extremely few media interviews that we know of, and even fewer public speeches. To this point, he is not regarded as what we in media call a "media personality".
So we hope that Admiral Lewin is not just playing to the gallery by saying something that should please everyone. Because whether it is a public relations stunt or not, he has hit the nail squarely on the head in identifying the need for open communication with the public.
In disclosing his plans to close some police stations, where desirable, in order to put more policemen and policewomen on the streets, and presumably, in more direct confrontation with criminals, he was quoted in yesterday's edition as saying:
"I believe we need the widest possible discussion, because we are not the repository of all knowledge, and the smallest man out there can come up with some good ideas... One of the things I believe is, when you are contemplating issues that will affect people you need to communicate, and one of my platforms as commissioner of police will be constant communication from me personally, the internal communications within the force, and the force's communication with the public to whom we provide this essential service."
The more the Jamaica Constabulary can get the public talking, the greater will be the fall in the crime rate. There can't be anyone left who does not know that it is impossible to get on top of crime, if the public does not keep the police force informed about criminals and criminal activity.
There is some general agreement that the Jamaican public is hesitant to provide the police with information on criminals and that this reticence is largely caused by fear of reprisal. That, of course, assumes that the information shared with the police will get back to the criminals, or that after the court trial, the police can't protect the witness. In both cases, this spells a crisis of confidence.
To some extent, we saw an improvement of public confidence in the leadership of the force during the tenure of Colonel Trevor MacMillan who, we believe, had a comfort level with the public.
We can't say for sure that that had anything to do with the fact that he came from the army or from just outside the force, but we hope that Commissioner Lewin will enjoy even greater confidence.
For the sake of us all.
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