The Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA) says that assessing the quality of customer service delivery provided by police stations will be a major focus of this year’s ‘Transforming Our Police Service’ (TOPS) competition.
The initiative, which is in its second year, judges police stations in terms of compliance with specific Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) standard operating procedures, including records management, station administration, station facility, utilities conservation and customer service.
Area 5, comprising the Divisions of St. Andrew North, St. Catherine South, St. Catherine North and St. Thomas, is the focus of the 2020 competition, which will take place during Police Week from November 24 to December 1.
Awards will be presented in the categories of Top Division, Top Station and Top Prisoners in Custody (PIC) Station.
The Area 2 network, comprised of St. Mary, St. Ann and Portland, was the focus of last year’s pilot initiative, with the Bamboo Police Station in St. Ann emerging the champion.
Speaking with JIS News, PCOA Chief Executive Officer, Otarah Byfield said the organisation has embarked on surveys in communities that are in the divisions of the participating stations, to assess how citizens feel about the quality of customer service being offered.
“It is one thing to look at the administration of the station but we also have to factor in how people who are accessing the service or people, who need the service feel about it, in order to improve it,” she said.
Miss Byfield noted that the emphasis on customer service is directly related to the objective of the TOPS competition, which is to improve and strengthen public confidence in the JCF.
“We feel that in going forward with any change and transformation of the JCF, we have to get an understanding on the ground of how the customer, which is the public, feels about the police in general and the kind of service that they get from the police in their community. By getting that understanding, we are able to build programmes around what we have found to improve it,” she pointed out.