Amid the vaccine mandate for recruits, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is reiterating that serving members will not have their promotion prospects impacted if they are not willing to be inoculated against the coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Head of the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), Senior Superintendent of Police Stephanie Lindsay, addressing the recruitment concerns on Monday (May 31), said the two issues are unrelated and would not be used to penalise reluctant JCF members. 

“Promotion and recruitment are two separate things; there is no provision in the force that requires anyone to be vaccinated to be promoted,”  she told Our Today.

“There is no such requirement. As a matter of fact, we promoted some [members] the other day and vaccination was not a factor,” Lindsay added.

The eligibility for promotion was a matter of contention earlier in May, as several service members reacted strongly to an internal memo, which gave the impression that the JCF was seemingly denying advances for cops who have not received their COVID-19 vaccination.

A statement by Senior Communications Strategist Dennis Brooks indicated that the claim was an unfortunate interpretation of the internal correspondence.

As uncertainty swirled over the vaccine requirement for the accelerated promotional programme, which was launched in July 2020, the Jamaica Police Federation met with the JCF High Command on May 5.

Federation chairman Corporal Rohan James said at the time he was satisfied with the talks.

Continuing, Lindsay told Our Today where the JCF is unflinching with regards to immunisation is in-person recruit training, as its anti-COVID protocols are very strict. 

“The only issue we have with vaccination is for face-to-face training that will be held at the police training school [at Twickenham Park] or the other training facilities. We don’t want to run the risk of having to suspend training quite often, that has happened in the past,” the CCU head explained.

The JCF continues to defend its decision to temporarily deny applicants a chance to enlist if they refuse to accept the COVID vaccine before the commencement of training. 

• Related article: ‘Take the jab, or come back later’: JCF defends vaccine mandate for recruitment drive