ONE POLICE FORCE FOR JAMAICA - Red seam and blue seam to merge .....The merger will be effected during the 2014/2015 financial year, the Ministry said.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014 | 12:23 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Minister of National Security Peter Bunting says that Cabinet has approved a merger of the Jamaica Constabulary force (JCF) and the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) through the incorporation of the members of the ISCF into the JCF.

The incorporation of the ISCF into the JCF means Jamaica will have a single police force which will, among other things; result in an increase in the number of police personnel engaged in frontline crime prevention and control activities, the Security Ministry said in statement Tuesday.

The merger will be effected during the 2014/2015 financial year, the Ministry said.

Bunting noted that the merging of the two forces has been recommended by the Wolfe Report of 1991 as well as five separate reports and studies since.

In commenting on the benefits of the merging of the two entities, Police Commissioner Owen Ellington said that the two entities have been operating together as a virtual single force in recent times, but the realisation of all benefits required policy and legislative support.

He noted that the existence of two separate legal entities, operating within the same space and performing similar, and in some cases identical, functions presented a number of operational challenges. more