Bunting to meet with INDECOM amid surge in police fatal shootings

 

Opposition spokesperson on Citizen Security, Senator Peter Bunting, says he will be meeting with the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), amid a surge in the number of people killed in confrontation with the police.

 

Up to Wednesday, INDECOM was probing 50 police fatal shootings since January. Twenty-two occurred this month.

 

Mr. Bunting says while he has noticed a sharp rise in police fatal shootings, he does not want to make any judgment on the matter at this moment. 

 

"I will be having a meeting with INDECOM to really examine the circumstances of these to ensure that we don't go to what might be called shortcut policing, extrajudicial killings. We've worked very hard to move away from that. When I was Minister, police fatal shootings fell by 70% in the same year where murders went down to its lowest in the last two decades. So we don't have to have that style of policing in order to reduce violent crime and murders in particular," he argued. 

 

Senator Bunting, who was speaking with Radio Jamaica News in an interview on Wednesday in St. James, did not provide a timeline for the meeting with the investigative body.

 

In the meantime, the senator wants the police to make greater use of body-worn cameras.

 

He does not support the view that the cameras cannot be used during routine security force operations.

 

"Body-worn cameras, which we piloted over a decade ago, is a strong method of improving police accountability. It protects professional police officers against unfair allegations and it also ensures that their behaviour is in line with the use of force policy of the Jamaica Constabulary Force," he noted. 

 

Earlier this month, the police high command said additional cameras are being procured and will be deployed before the end of this year.

 

For the cameras already in use, the high command said the deployment strategy has been a focus on public order.

 

It said body-worn cameras have already contributed to a reduction in confrontations and improved accountability in police-citizen interactions but, it did not provide examples or supporting data.