VZCZCXYZ0006
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKG #1043/01 1861801
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 051801Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5006
INFO RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO 5843
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC

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 
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