Soldiers on guard outside the Supreme Court in Montego Bay. The city's high crime rate has placed it high on the agenda of the Government's drive to reduce crime and clean up curruption.- File

Western Bureau:With police corruption high on the list of problems undermining Montego Bay's bid to restore its once-pristine image, Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he is not averse to the idea of creating a special task force to help combat lawlessness in the St James capital.

"That, essentially, would have to be a (police) commissioner's decision, because that is an operational matter," Golding told a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Tuesday.

"I will certainly speak to him (the police commissioner) to see whether or not this idea of a special task force could be looked at; it may be necessary," Golding added

long-term measure

However, Golding made it clear that this could not be a long-term measure.

"It (the special task force) may be necessary, but it would only be temporary," Golding said. "The real thing is to fix the problem, and I am not of the view that it is not fixable."

Golding was responding to concerns about the destabilising impact that crime is having on Montego Bay.

Senior police officers in St James are struggling to put the lid on the illicit cash-rich lottery scam, which is blamed for a large portion of the 120 murders in the parish since the start of the year.

But the efforts of the Police High Command are being affected by the level of police corruption in the parish.

"I know he (the police commissioner) sees what is happening there, and I know there are a number of things he is going to do to root out the corruption, because it is there," Golding said in direct reference to members of the force who the commissioner is now trying to have retired in the public interest.

The commissioner recently recommended that the Police Service Commission (PSC) retire nine Montego Bay-based policemen in the public interest.

limited authority

The PSC has since asked the policemen to respond within two weeks to allegations that they were involved in 'shaking down' persons involved in the lottery racket.

While describing the corruption in the police force as "fixable", Golding said that the commissioner was being hampered by the limited authority he has to effectively manage the force.

"The commissioner is stymied. There are things the com-missioner cannot do, and part of this review of the authority structure within the force, which is being done on a bipartisan basis, I hope, will lead to the commissioner being given the authority to manage the force.

"Right now, he does not have the authority to manage the force properly," Golding added.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com