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. Okay read on. I guess the clown of a cartoonist better back off, the boss has spoken.
'Butch' lauds police force
...But calls for more positive leadershipTaneisha Lewis, Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Eileen Henry-Lewis (centre) and Peter Lindo of Marketing Counsellors Limited receive the Jamaica Observer's Top Billing Award from the newspaper's chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, during the Jamaica Observer's 15th Anniversary Advertisers' Appreciation Luncheon yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. Second place went to WaterWorks and third to OGM Integrated Communications. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)
OBSERVER Chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart yesterday threw his support behind the island's police force, saying it was an exceptional one with far more good about it than bad.
"I believe that the police force of Jamaica is an exceptional force and I think they have had a lot of good training over the years. They need a lot of positive leadership," Stewart told a large gathering of advertisers at the upscale Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.
His remarks appeared timed to lift the spirits of policemen and women facing death-wielding gunmen who pushed the murder tally past the 700 mark last weekend.
Five cops have been gunned down since the start of the year and an eighth was shot and injured on the weekend.
Stewart, addressing the Jamaica Observer's 15th Anniversary Advertisers Appreciation Luncheon, also placed his speech in the context of the newspaper' strong editorial stance against the rising murder rate and the authorities' seemingly weak response to it.
But he wanted it clear that the newspaper was fully behind the police force, which he said was "full of a lot of really good people".
"The police force that we have, with all the things that they might have that are not good, there is a far greater quantity of things that are very good," said Stewart. "When I see people risking their own lives for all of us, credit must be given where credit is due."
In his speech, which was punctuated by applause, the Observer chairman acknowledged that accountability problems would always be an issue in large organisations like the police force. It was therefore important to put systems in place to ensure checks and balances, he noted.
"I hear people saying some negative things about the police force. Any organisation that has thousands of people in there has accountability problems. There is not one organisation in Jamaica that employs a thousand people, 5,000 people or 10,000 people that does not have accountability problems," he insisted.
"Our job as managers of those people is to put the systems in place to provide the accountability so that the people who are doing the wrong things, you know there is the law to deal with that, and if they are doing the right things they can get the pleasure of the awards and the success."
Stewart also encouraged the newly appointed National Security Minister Trevor MacMillan to hit the ground running in tackling the country's spiralling crime rate.
"I hope he will watch what is happening and grab the reins in a way that all of us can say that he is going about it in an effective way," he said, noting that MacMillan had had a brilliant stay at the wicket while he was police commissioner from 1993 to 1996.
"For what it is worth, we wish him all the best. He motivated us, he made us feel safe and that somebody cared."
He signalled that the Observer, now at its strongest at 15 years old and the fastest growing newspaper in Jamaica, based on the latest surveys, would continue to be vigilant on the issue of crime.
"Our competitors may not like it, but the Observer was established because we thought Jamaica deserved better than we had at the time there was only one newspaper," he said.
. Okay read on. I guess the clown of a cartoonist better back off, the boss has spoken.'Butch' lauds police force
...But calls for more positive leadershipTaneisha Lewis, Observer staff reporter editorial@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Eileen Henry-Lewis (centre) and Peter Lindo of Marketing Counsellors Limited receive the Jamaica Observer's Top Billing Award from the newspaper's chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, during the Jamaica Observer's 15th Anniversary Advertisers' Appreciation Luncheon yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. Second place went to WaterWorks and third to OGM Integrated Communications. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)OBSERVER Chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart yesterday threw his support behind the island's police force, saying it was an exceptional one with far more good about it than bad.
"I believe that the police force of Jamaica is an exceptional force and I think they have had a lot of good training over the years. They need a lot of positive leadership," Stewart told a large gathering of advertisers at the upscale Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.
His remarks appeared timed to lift the spirits of policemen and women facing death-wielding gunmen who pushed the murder tally past the 700 mark last weekend.
Five cops have been gunned down since the start of the year and an eighth was shot and injured on the weekend.
Stewart, addressing the Jamaica Observer's 15th Anniversary Advertisers Appreciation Luncheon, also placed his speech in the context of the newspaper' strong editorial stance against the rising murder rate and the authorities' seemingly weak response to it.
But he wanted it clear that the newspaper was fully behind the police force, which he said was "full of a lot of really good people".
"The police force that we have, with all the things that they might have that are not good, there is a far greater quantity of things that are very good," said Stewart. "When I see people risking their own lives for all of us, credit must be given where credit is due."
In his speech, which was punctuated by applause, the Observer chairman acknowledged that accountability problems would always be an issue in large organisations like the police force. It was therefore important to put systems in place to ensure checks and balances, he noted.
"I hear people saying some negative things about the police force. Any organisation that has thousands of people in there has accountability problems. There is not one organisation in Jamaica that employs a thousand people, 5,000 people or 10,000 people that does not have accountability problems," he insisted.
"Our job as managers of those people is to put the systems in place to provide the accountability so that the people who are doing the wrong things, you know there is the law to deal with that, and if they are doing the right things they can get the pleasure of the awards and the success."
Stewart also encouraged the newly appointed National Security Minister Trevor MacMillan to hit the ground running in tackling the country's spiralling crime rate.
"I hope he will watch what is happening and grab the reins in a way that all of us can say that he is going about it in an effective way," he said, noting that MacMillan had had a brilliant stay at the wicket while he was police commissioner from 1993 to 1996.
"For what it is worth, we wish him all the best. He motivated us, he made us feel safe and that somebody cared."
He signalled that the Observer, now at its strongest at 15 years old and the fastest growing newspaper in Jamaica, based on the latest surveys, would continue to be vigilant on the issue of crime.
"Our competitors may not like it, but the Observer was established because we thought Jamaica deserved better than we had at the time there was only one newspaper," he said.
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