The Ministry of National Security will be purchasing 70 additional motor vehicles at a cost of $40 million to boost the existing fleet in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips in making the disclosure of the purchase, said the order was placed to address the “serious shortage” of functioning motor vehicles and cycles in the Force.

The Minister said that within the next two months, another $50 million worth of motor vehicles would be acquired to use in the rural areas and rugged terrain of the island.

Dr. Phillips who was making his contribution to the 2004/05 Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Wednesday, May 19, said that another $65 million would also be spent to acquire 100 motor cycles for more effective urban patrols and another $60 million to purchase six marine crafts for the marine police to better secure the country’s coastline.

Turning to the human resources of the Force, the Minister said that the strengthening of the security forces, both in terms of the quality and quantity, was part of the government’s objectives.

He said that comparable to Jamaica’s Caribbean counterparts, the island had the lowest ratio of police to population. According to the National Security Minister all modern law enforcement doctrines make the point, that a critical factor in crime prevention, crime detection and crime suppression, was really just a matter of numbers.

He said that to address this, the Government would continue to recruit, both for the JCF and the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) so as to increase the number of law enforcement and security personnel in the country.

Meanwhile, he said that last year, over 1,000 new recruits graduated from the Jamaica Police Academy and so far this year, another 443 officers graduated. An additional 130 new recruits also commenced training at the Jamaica Police Academy with a batch of 330 set to commence training at Echo Village by the end of this month.

Dr. Phillips said that the Government was committed to continue the drive until the established level of 8,500 was met and until it increased the ratio of police to population to a level more in keeping with the threats the country faced.