Security experts praise leadership of Jamaica’s police commissioner Kevin Blake as murders fall 24 per cent through October 6, compared with the same period in 2025. At a forum reviewing crime figures one year after the Jamaica Labour Party’s general election victory, three private-security specialists said Blake has strengthened morale and the force’s ability to police the island.
Commander George Overton, Professor Anthony Clayton and Dr Jason McKay credited Blake with winning the confidence of officers. They said technology, recruitment and a shared operational plan have helped the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) carry out its work.
Experts Praise Leadership and Police Recruitment
Overton said the JCF has reached its established strength for the first time in his lifetime. That means it has the number of officers needed to fulfill their roles in communities, he said, describing a saturation of officers across the island.
He credited successful recruitment and technology with strengthening the force’s capacity. Overton chairs the Crime Monitoring and Oversight Committee and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s Standing Committee on National Security and Justice. He is also a former director of operations for Guardsman Group Limited and president of the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security.
Clayton, lead author of Jamaica’s 2014 National Security Policy, also pointed to technology. He led the 2015 operational review of the JCF and an assessment of citizen security in the Caribbean for the Commonwealth Secretariat.
“The use of technology has been a tremendous boost,” Clayton said. He added that it had contributed to “higher morale and motivation of the force, which is probably at its highest ever point”.
Experts Praise Leadership Amid Shooting Concerns
Clayton expressed concern about the rate of fatal police shootings. McKay and Overton echoed National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang’s position that the increase followed intensified operations against gun-toting criminals.
They argued that greater contact with armed criminals had led to more gun battles. In those confrontations, they said, properly equipped and trained police officers had gained the upper hand and seized multiple high-calibre firearms.
The discussion comes as Jamaica records a 24 per cent reduction in murders up to October 6 against the same period in 2025. The source report described that level as the lowest level of violent crime in more than three decades.
McKay, a criminologist, serving JCF member and chief executive officer of McKay Security Limited, called Blake’s leadership “a study in motivation”. He said he had not previously seen the police force this large or so unified behind a single plan to reduce the homicide rate.
“I believe it is an extremely motivated police force undergoing unprecedented levels of motivation, carrying out a well-put-together crime plan by Commissioner Blake,” McKay said. He also said the force was operating with the aim of reducing homicides.
McKay contrasted current equipment with what he described from more than 20 years ago, when officers carried guns that were already 20 years old. He said officers now have modern pistols and submachine guns, comparable to any police force in the world.
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At the forum, the experts tied their praise to officer morale, staffing, technology and a common crime plan. Clayton’s concern about fatal shootings remained part of the discussion, alongside the other experts’ account of intensified operations and gun battles.
