Police Commisioner criticised over police fatal shootings, lack of body cameras

 

Social justice advocate Horace Levy is accusing Police Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake of failing to take seriously the action to address concerns about the high incidence of police fatal shootings. 

 

Hugh Faulkner, head of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), on Friday renewed the call for the compulsory use of body-worn cameras by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force during operations. 

 

According to Mr. Faulkner, from January 1 to July 1 of this year, 186 fatal shootings were being investigated, with no body-worn camera footage available to aid any of the probes.

 

Speaking Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Mr. Levy reiterated the need for compulsory body-worn cameras in planned police operations to provide an independent account of incidents. Mr. Levy said the absence of body-worn cameras can encourage violence by the police and disregard for due process.

 

"The police force should be obeying law, and the way to do that is to have the use of body cameras so that evidence can be present, indications can be there very clearly. And instead, all we have is the contradiction from observers, from witnesses, contradicting the accounts of the police about how some of these killings have taken place. Instead, what we have, in fact, is the police going on a path of straight-out murder," contended Mr. Levy. 

 

In the latest incident last Monday, five men were fatally shot during a reported gun battle with the police along Jacks Hill Road in St. Andrew. 

 

Five firearms were recovered. 

 

The police said an investigation into a murder plot led officers to the location. 

 

At the same time, Mr. Levy is bemoaning the length of time it is taking the Jamaica Constabulary Force to establish the necessary infrastructure to managing the data generated by body-worn cameras to facilitate the use of the devices.

 

"They have had ample time to get their infrastructure in place and they cannot any longer pretend that it is not in place. They have the machinery there in place. They are not using it. So I cannot accept that argument any longer. It's gone on for too long now. And they have had ample time to correct that situation, and if they have not done so, it is deliberate. So I must confess that the argument of the police commissioner, on that score, is a very weak argument. It has no footing, no standing, no proper ground at all. It's just talk, it's cheap talk. It's simply postponing the reality of what is necessary and can be done," the social justice advocate asserted.