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Selecting Reneto Adams as police commissioner
Thursday, November 12, 2009
We are watching with a great deal of interest the clamouring, especially online, but also on the radio talk shows, for the return of former senior superintendent of police, Mr Reneto Adams, to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, this time as commissioner of police.
Reports that over 2,000 people, within a 30-minute period, registered their support for the controversial personality on a blog set up for the purpose of backing his announced intention to apply for the top cop job, are instructive.
One gets the sense, however, that the odds are not in favour of Mr Adams getting the position. The truth is that the job of police commissioner calls for far more than a cop who is willing to stare down criminals, as crucial as that is in today's crime-torn Jamaica.
Mr Adams has no doubt captured the imagination and won the admiration of the Jamaican populace, by his courage on the frontline. People have always loved and supported brave cops who seemed willing to put their lives on the line in service of their compatriots. And he follows in that line of 'super cops'.
On the other hand, Mr Adams' detractors have often painted him as a loose cannon whose tongue could not be bridled; a man who would unwisely challenge any and all, including his very superiors in the police force.
So while Jamaicans are clearly anxious to see a cop on the frontline, trading bullets with gunmen and hopefully putting them on the run, the question is: Can that be enough to lead a police force, of which that is only one aspect?
The fight against crime is increasingly calling for more brains than brawn.
A good deal of the criminals of today have access to vast resources, including the ability to hire some of the smartest criminal lawyers and accountants, bribe senior politicians and public officials and recruit whatever firepower they desire.
In other words, crime is getting more and more organised. Therefore, many of the murders which have driven so much fear into the citizenry, are ordered by the criminal masterminds. Eliminating the murderers who carry out their bidding is not the end-all. They will merely recruit more from the ready supply in our teeming inner-cities.
So we expect that the police commissioner must be able to have a command of the vast expanse of modern, technology-driven crime-fighting strategies, based on policies promulgated by the legislators and in keeping with our laws and Constitution.
Policemen, like Mr Adams, must be appreciated for their selfless service. But put in the job of commissioner, they might find themselves completely at sea and of no use to even their greatest admirers.
One, of course, wonders how many brave policemen like Mr Adams are identified early in their life in the Constabulary for training that could place them on a trajectory to the top job. Imagine what the former SSP might have become, had he been so targeted.
The Police Service Commission, which is now sifting applications for the commissioner's job, will be torn, we imagine, when they go through Mr Adams'. They will want to appoint someone the masses want in the job. But can they?
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...MMISSIONER.asp
Thursday, November 12, 2009
We are watching with a great deal of interest the clamouring, especially online, but also on the radio talk shows, for the return of former senior superintendent of police, Mr Reneto Adams, to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, this time as commissioner of police.
Reports that over 2,000 people, within a 30-minute period, registered their support for the controversial personality on a blog set up for the purpose of backing his announced intention to apply for the top cop job, are instructive.
One gets the sense, however, that the odds are not in favour of Mr Adams getting the position. The truth is that the job of police commissioner calls for far more than a cop who is willing to stare down criminals, as crucial as that is in today's crime-torn Jamaica.
Mr Adams has no doubt captured the imagination and won the admiration of the Jamaican populace, by his courage on the frontline. People have always loved and supported brave cops who seemed willing to put their lives on the line in service of their compatriots. And he follows in that line of 'super cops'.
On the other hand, Mr Adams' detractors have often painted him as a loose cannon whose tongue could not be bridled; a man who would unwisely challenge any and all, including his very superiors in the police force.
So while Jamaicans are clearly anxious to see a cop on the frontline, trading bullets with gunmen and hopefully putting them on the run, the question is: Can that be enough to lead a police force, of which that is only one aspect?
The fight against crime is increasingly calling for more brains than brawn.
A good deal of the criminals of today have access to vast resources, including the ability to hire some of the smartest criminal lawyers and accountants, bribe senior politicians and public officials and recruit whatever firepower they desire.
In other words, crime is getting more and more organised. Therefore, many of the murders which have driven so much fear into the citizenry, are ordered by the criminal masterminds. Eliminating the murderers who carry out their bidding is not the end-all. They will merely recruit more from the ready supply in our teeming inner-cities.
So we expect that the police commissioner must be able to have a command of the vast expanse of modern, technology-driven crime-fighting strategies, based on policies promulgated by the legislators and in keeping with our laws and Constitution.
Policemen, like Mr Adams, must be appreciated for their selfless service. But put in the job of commissioner, they might find themselves completely at sea and of no use to even their greatest admirers.
One, of course, wonders how many brave policemen like Mr Adams are identified early in their life in the Constabulary for training that could place them on a trajectory to the top job. Imagine what the former SSP might have become, had he been so targeted.
The Police Service Commission, which is now sifting applications for the commissioner's job, will be torn, we imagine, when they go through Mr Adams'. They will want to appoint someone the masses want in the job. But can they?
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...MMISSIONER.asp
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