Review expected on Police Officers’ Club finances

Concerns about the use of revenue from Police Officers’ Club should be addressed before the end of this month.

Jamaica Observersources last week reported that several senior officers in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) have expressed concern about the absence of audited financial statements for the club for the past several years.

They have also reportedly questioned whether funds raised from the lease of the Officers’ Club were used to finance overseas trips and Hurricane Melissa donations. It is estimated that the club earns some $10 million in revenue each year through rental of the Hope Road facility plus monthly dues of $1,000 paid by each gazetted officer of the JCF.

One gazetted officer, who asked not to be named, told theObserver, “It nuh look good and only the presentation of audited accounts will satisfy us.”

When contacted, recently interdicted chairman of the Police Officers’ Association (POA) Senior Superintendent Wayne Cameron said he has also received several complaints but emphasised that his entity has no prudential or fiscal responsibility for the Officers’ Club.

Cameron declined to state who is in charge of the Officers’ Club and its revenue, but directed enquiries to the Office of the Police Commissioner.

Subsequent checks by theObserverrevealed that Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Karina Powell-Hood — who has responsibility for the Force Development and Logistics Portfolio in the JCF — told members of the Officer Corps last Monday that a meeting to elect a new management team for the POA will be held in April and audited accounts will be presented at that time.

According to the sources, DCP Powell-Hood told the meeting that last year a decision was made to forgo the annual Officers’ Cocktail, which is usually held at Christmas with proceeds from the Officers’ Club, and to use the money to fund an initiative called JCF Children’s Advocacy, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE), which received widespread acclaim.

JCF CARE was aimed at children in the areas hardest hit by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, which hit the island last October.

Financing of entities linked to gazetted officers of the JCF has been in the spotlight since Cameron was arrested on fraud charges involving POA funds.

Cameron has been charged with larceny and fraudulent conversion based on a ruling of the director of public prosecutions following a months-long probe into alleged irregularities involving POA funds.

But some senior police sources have argued that the move against Cameron suspiciously resembles a combination of politics and union-busting. They are demanding that a similar forensic probe be conducted into the finances of the Officers’ Club.

According to the source, it is more than questionable that charges were laid against Cameron shortly after he went to court to challenge a decision by Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake to oust him as POA chairman.

By letter dated September 8, 2025 Blake indicated that the chair of the POA should be vacated.

According to Blake, “reports of alleged indiscipline and misconduct by the chairman may compromise the conduct of the POA, particularly at a time when the organisation is required to engage in highly technical salary and benefits negotiations with the Government of Jamaica”.

In response, lawyers representing Cameron rushed to court, which ruled that “an interim injunction is granted restraining the respondent [Blake], whether acting in concert, by himself, his servants and/or agents or otherwise howsoever from directing or causing to be convened any meeting of the Police Officers’ Association for the purposes of removing the applicant as chairman and appointing a chairman pro tem or otherwise, pending the determination of the claim for judicial review or further orders of the court”.

It added that the implementation of Blake’s decision “is hereby stayed pending the determination of the claim for judicial review or until further orders of the court”.

Both Cameron’s fraud trial and the full hearing of his attempt to prevent the commissioner from removing him are slated to be heard by the courts shortly.