NCJ Number
174976
Journal
Caribbean Journal of Criminology and Social Psychology Volume: 3 Issue: 1/2 Dated: January/July 1998 Pages: 60-82
Date Published
1998
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes policing styles of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), their structural underpinnings, and their impact on police-citizen relations and police effectiveness.
Abstract
In general, the JCF emphasizes state protection over citizen protection, order maintenance over crime control, and crime fighting over respect for citizen rights. The essence of police work involves the management of coercive force to ensure social and legal compliance of the population. This power, however, may be directed and controlled in various ways in a variety of political and criminal justice settings. How this power is exercised in various systems, the legitimacy of police forces as agents of social and political control, and the effectiveness of police forces in crime control and public order maintenance significantly affect policing styles. Moreover, policing styles express the configuration of power in society, including the power of citizen versus state actors. The author concludes any serious reform of the JCF must be based on a critical examination of policing styles and police-citizen relations. 33 references, 9 endnotes, and 1 table