The Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA) Transforming Our Police Service (TOPS) Competition will focus on Area 2 for 2024.
Now in its sixth staging, police stations in Area 2, which comprises St. Ann, St. Mary and Portland divisions, will vie for prizes to determine who is the ‘TOP’ police station.
Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on October 3, Chief Executive Officer of the PCOA, Otarah Byfield Nugent, indicated that as the organisation reaches the five-year cycle, they have introduced two new awards.
“The two additional new awards are the JCF Top Station Award, what we call the TOP of all TOPS stations or TOP of TOPS. All the five stations that were awarded TOP stations from the previous inspections will now be competing for the top station. And then the other new award we have, we also included the TOP Marine Outpost in Area 2,” Mrs. Byfield Nugent said.
Inspections for the competition started in early September, with the St. Ann division to complete the roundup of all inspections this week.
The stations vying for the new JCF Top Station Award will be Area 1 Top Station Winner – Bluefields (Westmoreland Division); Area 2 Top Station Winner – Bamboo (St. Ann Division); Area 3 Top Station Winner – Asia (Manchester Division); Area 4 Top Station Winner – Bull Bay (Kingston Eastern Division); and Area 5 Top Station Winner – Above Rocks (St. Catherine North Division).
All inspections of these stations have been completed.
Additionally, Mrs. Byfield Nugent indicated that the decision to include a non-geographical formation award for the Marine Division in Area 2 will serve as a boost to the morale of members of the Force.
“It’s also important for us to spread the impact of the programme to boost the morale, not only of the officers working at the stations but also to impact officers working at other locations, other formations that are not stations, because they are a part of the Force,” Mrs. Byfield Nugent said.
The existing awards under the competition – Top Station, Top Prisoners in Custody Station, Top Division, Top Customer Service, and the Dr. the Hon. Marshall Hall Award for the station – are still up for grabs.
Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in St. Ann on November 27, during Police Week.
Developed in 2019, the TOPS programme is aimed at fostering greater conformity with prescribed Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) policies as well as raise morale among police personnel.