A radical idea requiring careful study

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Saturday | August 4, 2007

The JLP's manifesto proposal to establish a civilian traffic corps is a radical idea that requires careful study. The first consideration is to determine whether the present police responsibility in this regard should be abandoned on the basis that the constabulary needs to devote all their attention to crime control in its several manifestations.

There is, of course, no precise demarcation that isolates criminal activity from traffic; in fact, much crime involves movement on the highways and byways, by sea or air. So that police mobility in pursuit of criminal activity must still retain an important link with and interplay with traffic even controlled by a civilian corps.

Police mobility in pursuit of criminal activity must still retain an important link and interplay with traffic even controlled by a civilian corps. Indeed, such a corps would need specialised training both in the traffic laws and the dynamics of road usage in city streets and high-speed highways. We hazard a guess that the thinking behind this manifesto proposal derives from current traffic conditions particularly in urban areas. The average motorist would be aware that in the midst of the commercial congestion that is now commonplace there is much reckless behaviour especially in the absence of traffic policemen. Signal lights and road markings are ignored at will as reckless motorists bob and weave endangering lives and property. There never seems to be any policemen in sight.

An obvious answer to this dilemma would be to increase the numbers of the present police establishment. There is a perception, however, that much of the corruption that has pervaded the ranks arise from the opportunities for illicit earning from motorists who are willing to pay for a 'bly' to escape the inconvenience of attending traffic court for speeding or other infringements.

There can be no guarantee that a civilian corps, who would need distinctive uniforms for obvious reasons, would not come to be corrupted in the same way that traffic cops have been if the prevailing conditions remain unchanged; among them the fact that traffic fines are at a level which make it tempting for motorists to negotiate with willing takers.

We note that the manifesto is also proposing increased numbers of policemen to deal with crime. They would, of course, need better and more intensive training in two particular areas: detective capability involving the most up to date technology; and community policing with emphasis on interfacing with ordinary citizens at every level. The pervading pessimism about police interaction and propensity to shoot indiscriminately needs urgent attention with or without their responsibility for traffic control.

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