GOJ can develope UAV's as a means of giving the Police eyes in the sky - Inspiration for Aviators in Jamaica via G.I. Joe Retaliation

“With respect to vehicles and their location, we are certainly working on that, it is budgeted for. We hope, in the next financial year to acquire a proper vehicle tracking system that will give us a real-time demonstration of deployment”

Excerpt from the presentation by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Dr. Annmarie Barnes at the Wednesday 27th February 2013 meeting of the PAAC (Public Accounts Committee of Parliament)

Ever since the story broke in October of 2012 the Jamaican Press that the Police High Command shelled out close to JA$$400 million of Taxpayer's money repairing vehicles at unknown private garages over the past 1 year and six months (18 months) as noted in “'Secret' mechanics keep police cars rolling - $400 million paid to private garages in 18 months”, published Sunday October 21, 2012 by Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner, a little storm in a teacup has been brewing. 

So it comes as no surprise that the GOJ’s decided to bell the Cat by introducing Vehicle Tracking for the Jamaican Police, with plans for its implementation at the start of the Financial Year 2013-2014 which begins in March 2013 as reported in “Tracking system coming for police vehicles”, published Saturday, March 02, 2013 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY-WILLIS Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

This is the main reason why this caught my eye, as it’s Telecom related. So this was inevitable; the GOJ has to do the very same thing like a lot of Private Sector companies; bell the Cats or Dogs, whichever the JCF members aka the Jamaican Police like to be caricatured.

This as this level of tax waste by doling out taxpayer's money to unknown Auto Mechanics  was revealed by the AGD (Auditor General's Department) via - you guessed it - an Auditof the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) aka the Jamaican Police as reported in “Cop car chaos - Audit reveals wide-scale lack of accountability in repair of police vehicles”, published Wednesday November 28, 2012 by Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

The Audit specifically covers the years 2007 to 2011 and it was via this audit that the GOJ discovered this JA$400 secret spending spree over the 1 year 6 months and the Vehicle Tracking System was a recommendation by the Auditor General Pamela Monroe-Ellis Report in a bid to streamline Police usage of their Fleet Vehicles.

This makes Procurement of vehicles more transparent as noted in “Gov't seeking to streamline fleet procurement policy”, published Monday, October 29, 2012 7:40 AM, The Jamaica Observer. Read the hyperlinked article at your leisure, but the revelations are startling:

1.      The JCF has no idea as the extent of its fleet

2.      The JCF doesn’t keep details records of who owns what vehicles

3.      The JCF has refused to hand over information related to the Auto Mechanics that fix Police Vehicles, citing Security concerns

This is on the same level of lack of transparency and accountability  as the November 2012 report in the Press of the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) buying its Parliamentarians brand new SUV’s as noted in my blog article entitled “GOJ buys SUV's for Ministers of Government from Toyota Jamaica - All-Electric Vehicle Importation Support is needed from GOJ to be The Master of our Fuel Consumption”. The Parliamentarians taxpayer waste involves a lot less money, actually US$694,000 or JA$ 63,068,552.18 million spent on procuring a total of twenty (20) SUV’s.

Thus, despite the excesses in both of these little swirling cups of coffee, it’s obvious the Police High Command’s excesses, albeit justifiable, is waaaaay more excessive by about 534%. Worse, the Auto Mechanics may just as well be owned by the Police Officer is very similar to stories of Jamaican Police Officers alleged running and owning taxis and other businesses to which they give “protection”, which means the Police High Command is committing Fraud.

Apparently, at first blush, it would appear that the Police are really rough drivers, damaging Police Vehicles and Public Property in their pursuit of rogue elements of society and thus an explanation for the decline in murders but spike in robberies as noted in “Major crimes down, robberies spike”, Published Saturday March 23, 2013 by Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.

But from a common sense point of view and my own experience driving fleet vehicles when IK was working at C&W (2001 to 2004) and CLARO (2008 2009), the one time I’ll admit too using it, I suspect the excessive wear and tear of Police vehicles comes down to poor maintenance of vehicles assigned to Police personnel.

Most likely, they’ve used their vehicles to take one too many personal excursions unrelated to actual Police work, no different than Private Sector companies who drivers may take their company’s fleet vehicle for a spin to do their own personal business on the road. This is one of the niceties of driving a fleet vehicle for a Private Sector company, especially a Telecom Provider which I discovered; you can get a lot done on the road you couldn’t do if you’re otherwise deskbound.

Thus when the new year rolled around, the Parliamentarians in March 2013 began asking where the Police did their patrols, potentially running the risk of exposing this sensitive info to the Public – and Criminal at large as noted in “Should public know number of vehicles assigned to different areas?”, published Friday, March 01, 2013 by The Jamaica Observer.

However, like the Politicians, the Police need vehicles to do their work and in fact are actually operating with approximately 50% of the vehicles required to do their job as noted in “Police operating with 50% of required fleet”, published Thursday, February 28, 2013 BY ALICIA DUNKLEY-WILLIS Observer senior reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

According to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Dr. Annmarie Barnes in February 2013:

1.      JCF currently has 1,554 Police Vehicles, roughly 50% of the required number of vehicles

2.      JCF currently 180 are awaiting repairs.

3.      JCF has 40 plus vehicles to be removed as they're not roadworthy

4.      JCF's desires a fleet size is 3000 vehicles

5.      JCF aims to have 2000 vehicles in the next five (5) years

But strangely the GOJ’s silent on the use of JDF (Jamaica Defense Force) aka the Jamaican Army helicopters to do Aerial Patrols with JCF escorts as this is also a major source of waste of Taxpayer Dollars. JDF’s helicopter fleet is not the most reliable as noted in the article “Helicopter problem stalls Gov't Pedro Cays visit”, published Thursday, September 20, 2012 3:40 PM, The Jamaica Observer and “JDF chopper near-miss!”, published Sunday, January 27, 2013 by Kimmo Matthews, The Jamaica Observer.

This prompts me to suggest the idea of the Police to have its own Aerial Patrol using UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or Drones as originally suggested in December 2012 by Horace Cunningham in his post “UAV project for surveillance: need some advice” posted December 8, 2012 at 7:14am by Horace Cunningham, DIY Drones.

The potential savings and the increased level of Surveillance will aid significantly in Crime-fighting and a gradual reduction in virtually every area of Jamaica via these Silent Remote Controlled eyes in the sky. When not in use for Crime-fighting, the JCF can earn revenue much like the JDF, via leasing out the Drones for:

1.      Promotions by Telecom Providers and other Private Sector entities

2.      Aerial mapping of Agricultural lands

3.      Census Taking

4.      News Reporters for investigative journalism as speculated in my blog article entitled “Griffin Helo TC US$50 Apple iPhone controlled Helicopter – TVJ and CVM TV's Flight of the Navigator”and my Geezam blog article entitled “US$60 Griffin HELO TC Helicopter at CES 2012”

Having an Open Competition in Jamaica among UAV Drone designers from High Schools and Colleges with the winner’s in different size categories for Drones. The winning Design Teams would get the chance to work with the JDF Air Wing to build their UAV would help to tap into the creative energies of our local Jamaicans Talent, making it possible to have our own home built Drone Fleet to achieve the above and even more.

The technical know-how we already have as evidence by our able and more than capable aviator in the JDF Air Wing, as nothing’s secret about designing aircraft. The communications package and tracking of the aircraft may present difficulties as it relates to accessing reliable GPS, but in lieu of that, we can use Mobile Tower Triangulation as suggested in my blog article entitled “Mobile Triangulation without GPS - a solution to crime under our noses”.

My expansion on this is in light of the civilian applications that are a popping up UAV’s or Drones, the more colloquial and to-the-point name for remote controlled vehicles bristling with Surveillance electronics as noted in “Just Call It A Drone”, published 3/02/2013 @ 6:50PM by Greg McNeal, Contributor, Forbes.

Non-military and peacetime usage for Drones is on the uptick, with Defense contractors seeing more requests and orders from Public and Private non-Government interests within the US of A as noted in “UAV Makers Attract M&A Interest Despite Defense Cuts”, published 12/19/2012 @ 2:26PM by Richard Tekneci, Wall Street Journal via Forbes.

Granted, Jamaica doesn’t have a large land area to patrol, muchless difficulty in accessing much of the interior. The lower cost associated with Jamaica via the JDF designing and building Drones for the JCF controlled by a CCN (Constabulary Communications Network) NOC (Network Operation Center) should be obvious to the GOJ. And with the above peacetime operations as suggested, the JCF can actually become a cash positive Police, with their local designed and built Drones being used as a source of Revenue for the JCF and the JDF Air Wing.

This despite any perceived problems of invasion of Privacy associated with its increased usage in the US of A as noted in “Homeland Security: Let's be clear about aerial drone privacy”, published February 22, 2013 8:59 AM PST by Declan McCullagh, CNET News and “House orders Pentagon to disclose domestic drone use”, published March 7, 2013 5:48 PM PST by Declan McCullagh, CNET News as such issues  we can solve via effective legislation .

So I’d like to add to the Auditor General’s raft of suggestion to streamlining the procurement of new Vehicles by the JCF that they can also research the idea of a competition for High Schools and Colleges to design Drones for constructing by the JDF and usage by the both the JDF and the JCF.

Combined with MNP (Mobile Number Portability) for Unlocked Mobile Phones in Jamaica in order to get the New Area Code as noted in my blog article entitled “OUR applies for new Area Code for Jamaica - Competition in Telecoms in the coming Hunger Games Catching Fire of Mobile Computing” this is Jamaican’s G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013) against Crime.