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Professor Ivelaw Griffith and Clive Munroe Jr.
As discussions heighten about the use of body-worn cameras for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, a US based security expert has asserted that Jamaica is lagging behind several other Caribbean nations with its implementation.
There have been calls for the police to use body worn cameras during operations.
The call grew even louder following the fatal shooting of 22 year-old Jahmar Farquharson in Four Paths, Clarendon on September 15
Professor Ivelaw Griffith, Senior Associate with the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington DC, said on Sunday that several other Caribbean jurisdictions are ahead of Jamaica in the implementation of body-worn cameras, citing St. Eustacius, Bonaire, Saaba, The Bahamas, US Virgin Islands and Guyana.
He noted, however, that some other countries have been "backsliding," on their commitment to introduce body-worn cameras, citing Trinidad & Tobago, which had initiated this policy a year ago, "but recently they canceled the order for about a thousand, citing financial difficulties."
Professor Griffith, speaking on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap, said, with Jamaica being "one of the more forward-looking jurisdictions, there's disappointment with regard to this issue of body cameras.
He also noted that Jamaica stands out with instances of criminality perpetrated by persons who are supposed to be protecting the society, assertig "that is not speculation; the hard data is evidence of that reality."
Agaist the background of "that reality," he said said it was "reasonable to say that Jamaica has been lagging in the body cameras aspect of fighting the criminality within the Force."
Move quickly
Attorney-at-law Clive Munroe Jr., also speaking on That's a Rap, urged the government to move with alacrity to acquire the body worn cameras for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
He said transparency in police operations will help to allay fears of extrajudicial killings.
While acknowledging that "the police have done good work in lowering (particularly) the murder figures," he said "those gains will be stained if it is that the citizenry believe, more and more, that many of those gains are being done essentially by cheating the system."
It was therefore imperative to adopt the use of body-worn cameras as quickly as possible, he said, "not just because it assists the police but because the technology, for the average person, has moved in that direction as well."
"Between the dashcam and the in-home cameras and camera systems, they (the citizens) have overtaken much of that, evidentially, already, so, for their own benefit, the police need to move in this direction," he noted.
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