JAMAICA: NEW HEAD OF POLICE ANTI-CORRUPTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 001043 SIPDIS SIPDIS SANTO DOMINGO FOR LEGATT STATE FOR INL NBOZZOLO, KBROWN, WHA/CAR KWILLIAMS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2017 TAGS: SNAR PREL JM SUBJECT: JAMAICA: NEW HEAD OF POLICE ANTI-CORRUPTION DIVISION FINALLY HIRED Classified By: DCM James T. Heg for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Mr. Justin Felice, current Senior Director of Investigations for the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, has accepted the Government of Jamaica's offer to become the head of a new Anti-Corruption Division within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) beginning in September 2007. Felice intends to set up two units within the Division, one public and one covert. He has received a verbal promise from the Minister of National Security, Peter Phillips, that the Ministry will provide the Division with the material and moral support it needs to succeed. Felice understands that corruption in the JCF is pervasive and that it will take years to clean up the force, but he also recognizes that within his first six months in office he needs to land a pretty big fish to in effect justify his salary, which is three times the amount a Jamaican police officer of similar rank would receive. End Summary ¶2. (C) Felice, who will serve at the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, and will report directly to the Police Commissioner, is the fourth "International Police Officer" recruited by the JCF in the last two years. The others are Deputy Commissioner of Police for Crime, Mark Shields, Assistant Commissioner of Police for Serious and Organized Crime, Leslie Greene, and Assistant Commissioner of Police for Firearms and Coastal Security, Paul Robinson. The international officers are on expatriate salary packages, which are essentially the equivalent of three times what a Jamaican Police Officer would be paid at a similar rank. The salaries are paid for 1/3 by the Government of Jamaica, 1/3 by the Jamaican Private Sector (Oliver Clarke, a wealthy businessman and owner of the Gleaner newspaper is the main donor from the Jamaican Private Sector) and 1/3 by the Government of the United Kingdom. Biography ¶3. (U) Felice has worked for the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland since 2003, after a 30 year career as a police officer in Great Britain. Immediately prior to his service in Northern Ireland, Felice served with the Lancashire Constabulary, which covers Northern England, and is one of largest forces in the United Kingdom. He has a background in �00A;and has commanded Professional Standards, Operations, Intelligence and Counter Corruption Units. A Rocky Road Ahead for Felice ¶4. (C) Despite U.S. and UK intervention prior to Felice's hiring, the Government of Jamaica did not reassign the current head of the JCF's Professional Standards Branch, Novelette Grant and place the Branch's portfolio under Felice. Indeed, when announcing Felice's appointment, Minister Phillips commented that despite the good work done by Professional Standards, more needed to be done to root out corruption in the JCF, but Phillips declined to explain how the Anti-Corruption Division would work with Professional Standards. According to long-time friend, XXXXXXXXXXXX , the head of XXXXXXXXXXXX, is quite incensed about Felice's appointment viewing it not only as a slap in the face by the Ministry of National Security and JCF hierarchy, but also an unfair judgment of her performance, which XXXXXXXXXXXX claims has been stymied at every turn by JCF leadership uninterested in allowing XXXXXXXXXXXX free reign to investigate anything more than low-level officers. ¶5. (C) Information gathered from other officers on the force, Mark Shields, and Leslie Green, indicates that XXXXXXXXXXXX inaction against higher ranking officers was due not only to the Commissioner's attempts to block her progress, but XXXXXXXXXXXX's own reluctance to put her safety and the safety of her family at risk by going after fellow officers of equivalent or higher rank. It is telling that when discussing his new appointment with the NAS Director, Felice seemed unaware of XXXXXXXXXXXX's existence, and when pressed he had no clue how his office would/should interface with the Professional Standards Branch. The lack of clarity between the responsibilites of the Anti-Corruption Division and Professional Standards has to be addressed if there is any hope of these two organizations working together. Even once the two groups are defined on paper, Felice will have an up-hill battle to form a professional relationship with XXXXXXXXXXXX and her staff. Structure of the new Anti-Corruption Division ¶6. (C) Felice intends to have two units within the Division, one public that will be staffed by JCF Officers, and one covert, to be staffed by a combination of Jamaican and foreign officers. The covert unit would only investigate high-ranking officers. Felice has received verbal commitment from Minister Phillips that the Ministry would provide direct assistance to his unit. By having the Minister's backing, Felice will hopefully be insulated from the Commissioner of Police's anticipated efforts to sideline Felice by financially starving the Anti-Corruption Division. According to Felice, the Minister has also agreed in principle with Felice's proposed structure of the Division. Based on his description of the nature of the work done by the covert unit, and the need to insulate it from unauthorized disclosure of its investigations, Felice may try to recruit personnel for the covert unit from the Jamaica Defence Force's Military Intelligence Unit. Felice has already secured agreement by the London Metropolitan Police (MET) and MI-5 to second three officers (two from the MET, one from MI-5) to Jamaica to make up the rest of the covert unit, however this secondment would be done on a strict cost recovery basis. Felice has not yet secured the necessary funding to make this wish a reality. Felice informed the NAS Director that he is confident that he will find the financial backing to bring the officers over from the UK, as John Yates, Assistant Commissioner of the MET, who specializes among other duties in high profile police investigations, has promised to intercede on Felice's behalf with the UK's Prime Minster and Foreign and Commonwealth Office to try to secure the funding Felice needs to go forward. Felice and Yates have planned a visit by Yates to Jamaica in October/November, to help Felice secure key stakeholder approval for Felice to implement his strategic plan for the Anti-Corruption Division. NAS funding for the Anti-Corruption Division ¶7. (C) Felice intends to spend his first three months (September - November 2007) crafting a three-year strategic plan for the Division. In October, 2007, Felice would like to bring in David Martin, the current Head of Strategic Planning for the Operational Services Business Group of the MET, which is the Group responsible for Professional Services and Special Investigations, to help craft this plan. Martin, has vast experience working on Anti-Corruption strategies. NAS has agreed in principal to fund this subject matter expert, but is awaiting a more detailed Scope of Work from Felice before proceeding. Once Felice arrives in September, 2007, NAS will continue to assess the Division's needs and see where some limited infusions of U.S. support would make the best sense and have the greatest impact. Felice understands need for early success ¶8. (C) Felice knows that it will be a long and difficult battle to go after the many dirty police officers in the JCF. Although Felice has taken a long-term view towards stamping out corruption, perhaps in recognition of the opposition to his appointment from both within and without the JCF, Felice knows that during his first six-months he needs to make at least one big case. It is his hope that as the JCF has never really taken high-level corruption seriously that there may be some easily exploitable low-hanging fruit he can grab to garner that all important first success. ¶9. (C) Comment: Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, who is known to be corrupt, and to whom Felice at least nominally is to report, has only begrudgingly accepted Felice's appointment. Thomas along with other members of the JCF, will likely do all they can, including participating in extra-judicial killings of witnesses and intimidation of their fellow officers, to prevent Felice's Division from making progress. Serious consideration has to be given to witness protection, and the offer of immunity in certain instances, if it would permit the prosecution of high-level officers. In addition, despite Minister Phillip's promises, once on-the-job, Felice may have a very rude awakening as to the actual level of financial support that the Ministry can and will provide to the Anti-Corruption Division. While Phillips considers Felice's appointment important, Felice will have to compete against other equally important high-priority, expensive initiatives, such as the implementation of a 40-hour work week for JCF officers and the National Investigative and Intelligence Agency, an Agency Phillip's hopes to have in operation by year's end. Given the poor fiscal health of the Government of Jamaica, the reality is that Phillip's ability to provide funding for any new initiative is limited and Felice would do well to start cultivating additional outside donors now. End Comment. JOHNSON