Caribbean News
JAMAICA: Police Increasing Use of Technology to Arrest Crime
#Kingston, August 6, 2018 – Jamaica – Within the next three years, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) personnel will be using more technological solutions in their daily operations in a bid to reduce incidents of crime and their likely occurrence.
Some of the technology-based software tools being developed, which should become fully operational by 2021, include: Jampol Stats; JCF Docs application; the QR Code; and Station Records Management System. These are designed to support the National Security Ministry’s focus on situational prevention under the comprehensive five-pillar crime prevention and reduction strategy.
The Ministry’s Senior Director, Modernization Initiatives and Strategic Projects, Arvel Grant, tells JIS News that Jampol Stats will overlay the JCF’s historical statistics on a geographic information system (GIS) map of Jamaica.
A GIS is designed to capture, store, analyse, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. He says this is being integrated with other socioeconomic and critical data that will help with research, to enable more predictive and preventative policing.
“It will also be a performance management system, so that they can zoom in on the crime and other relevant details, not just in a police division, but (at the) street and community levels and do comparisons over the years. That is one of the main (aspects) of the e-policing system,” he outlines
Mr. Grant says the JCF Docs application is a database of all the documents police officers may need in the field. These include a book of rules, the Laws of Jamaica, and the Use of Force guidelines.
“Overall, (it will) empower the police officers so they have access to that critical organisational information at any time and on any internet-connected device. The idea behind this is to give them access to information, and allow them to increase their knowledge and make better decisions in the field,” he informs.
Mr. Grant says QR Code, which has been rebranded smart phone policing, will, among other things, allow officers to retrieve information while they are in the field. This, he points out, will facilitate better situational awareness and overall information to guide their activities.
“With this application, when they are out in the field, whether they are on patrol or investigating, they can collect data, (including) GIS-related data, mapping where exactly the incident took place; that is a portal into Jampol Stats. So the data that is collected, pictures that are taken, any type of data that can be collected from the smart phone will then be fed directly into the Jampol Stats platform to give a better overall analysis,” the Senior Director adds.
Mr. Grant says the Station Records Management System is geared towards organizing police data in electronic format. He notes that there are several processes within the operations of a typical police station and the wider JCF, which are currently paper-based for various reasons.
“The station records management is computerising all of that… putting into electronic format all the data that is related to management. These include (officers) assigned to patrol, information gathered while on patrol, and attendance and duty registers,” he expounds.
Mr. Grant advises that training will be provided for members in the effective use of features, such as the Station Record Management System. He adds that others, like the JCF Docs and QR Codes, “will depend on where they (officers) are tasked within the police force.”
The Senior Director says the Ministry recognises the complexity of criminality in the 21st century and is, therefore, taking a technologically-driven approach to arrest the issue while revolutionising policing in Jamaica. He further points out that significant research and benchmarking was undertaken to analyse how the JCF operates and the type of technology-based tools being used locally and internationally. Mr. Grant tells JIS News that the applications, which are being developed by a number of the JCF’s members, will be rolled out incrementally.
“These projects are high priority and the persons working on them… have been very committed and are all on board in terms of getting these tools to a space that they are out there in the field and are readily being utilised right throughout the JCF,” he states.
Mr. Grant further notes that the solutions are expected to assist in linking criminals to the crimes they have committed, and anticipates that this will be particularly effective where criminals have been migrating from one police division to another.
“Paper based records are (challenging in performing) a timely and effective analysis. Therefore putting the information into a computer-based system will allow us to track that type of criminality, even where it migrates,” he points out.
The Senior Director adds that: “the overall goal is the reduction of all crimes; and the way that these technology-based software and tools will achieve that is to focus on the deployment of the policing resources to where crimes are occurring and, importantly, to where they are likely to occur. That type of analysis will allow us to establish the trend over time and be more preventative.”
Some technological solutions already being used by the Ministry include the ‘Stay Alert’ application, ‘JamaicaEye’ initiative, and ‘WhatsApp’. The Stay Alert crime-fighting mechanism has a panic mode which, when activated, notifies the police that the user is in an emergency situation and requires assistance. It also facilitates the reporting of incidents. The app, which was launched in February 2015, is free of cost and has over 130,000, downloads.
The JCF started using WhatsApp to tackle the sexual exploitation of children via social media. The number is 876-564-6840.
JamaicaEye will network all closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras owned by the Ministry as well as accommodate feeds from private operators.
By: Chris Patterson
Release: JIS
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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