A doctored image circulating on social media falsely claiming that Prime Minister Andrew Holness is a subject of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) ‘Wanted Wednesdays’ campaign, has been swiftly debunked by the constabulary.
The JCF, in a statement on Wednesday, condemned the fake image, describing it as “malicious content” designed to undermine the force’s crime-fighting efforts.
“We categorically state that this image is fake and does not originate from the JCF or any of its official channels,” the JCF declared.
“We strongly distance ourselves from this kind of malicious content which undermines our crime-fighting efforts and the integrity of the Wanted Wednesdays initiative,” it added.
According to the JCF, it considers this incident as “a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and divert attention from the real purpose of our campaign, which is to bring criminals to justice and ensure public safety.”
The constabulary urged persons to desist from sharing or posting the misleading content any further.
“We urge all Jamaicans to be vigilant and cautious when consuming information on social media, and to verify the authenticity of content (relative to the force) by consulting the JCF’s official pages.
“Misinformation and false content harm not only the reputation of the JCF, but also weaken public trust in the critical work we do every day to keep our communities safe,” said the JCF.
The incident came following Tuesday’s tabling of an eye-opening Integrity Commission (IC) report relative to the statutory declarations of Holness over recent years.
The IC has asked Parliament to endorse its referral of Holness to the Financial Investigation Division (FID) via a letter, to review aspects of Holness’ finances.
The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), including one of its prominent members, Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson, has rejected that referral by the IC for the FID to probe the developments.
