THE panel commissioned by the former government last year to undertake a review of the Jamaica Constabulary Force has recommended sweeping changes to the force, including a change of name, uniform, insignias and culture and that the force adopts a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption.

The 53-member team, which was headed by Northern Caribbean University (NCU) President Herbert Thompson, among its recommendations, said there should be extraordinary security vetting of personnel in the force. These include automatic polygraph testing of senior officers and staff in 'sensitive positions'.

It also suggested that the constabulary be renamed the Jamaica Police Force (JPF).

The report, which has been released on the heels of the *lo**iest month of criminal violence in recent history in which 200 people were murdered, drew on the Wolfe Report; Corporate Strategy presented by former police commissioner Francis Forbes, the KPMG/DFID report, and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report.

It said the backlog of some 500 cases involving disciplinary measures against members of the force should be processed as a matter of urgency, and that community-based policing models should be further developed and rolled out in as many communities as possible.