Five Scotland Yard detectives arrived in Jamaica yesterday to work with the local police on Operation Kingfish, the Government's latest crime-fighting initiative with a mandate to tackle drug smuggling and gangs.
By Erica VirtueHowever, national security officials said that the cops were not part of the Government's plan to recruit overseas police, but were here specifically for Kingfish, an initiative with a multi-national component. It works closely with US and British law enforcement agencies.
"The people who are here are part of the Operation Kingfish partnership with foreign officials from the United States and United Kingdom," national security ministry spokesman Donovan Nelson told the Observer. "These officers are not a part of that overseas recruitment. They are part of the Kingfish rotation, where we get assistance from our overseas partners."
Nelson declined to elaborate.
Kingfish's boss, Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds, confirmed that the British cops were assigned to his unit, but refused to say how many there were or to give their specific duties.
"I won't tell you how many we have, but I will tell you that these are very experienced persons who would have worked on major organised crime activities in their countries, successfully so," Hinds told the Observer.
However, Government sources confirmed that the initial recruitment was five officers. It was unclear if others would come and whether the Government, in the face of Nelson's statement, would go ahead with its planned recruitment of foreign cops, announced more than two months ago by National Security Minister Peter Phillips.
There have long been calls in some quarters here for Jamaica to recruit highly-skilled police officers from abroad, especially Britain and the United States, to work on the line, helping the island to fight its major problem of violent crime. Jamaica already has UK police advisors, focusing primarily on the reform of the constabulary.
Phillips appeared to accede to those calls in a September broadcast when he suggested that Jamaica was already in contact with foreign governments. However, last month the minister said that the number of police to be recruited was "no more than 10".
It was widely expected that Jamaica would look primarily to Britain for police officers. The Jamaica Constabulary Force is broadly modelled off the British police, and in the past three years Jamaica and Britain have established several co-operation agreements between their law enforcement agencies.
Moreover, the local constabulary has worked closely with the London Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) on drug interdiction projects.
Since its launch in October though, focus has been placed on the work of Kingfish, which has been credited with spectacular drug busts, several of them at sea involving US and British law enforcement officers.
There have also been significant gun and ammunition seizures inside Jamaica. Hinds said that the addition of the British cops to his team will increase the efficiency of its operations.
"They bring expertise in years of experience to the table," he said. "They are here to build capabilities among our investigators and also to guide."
