Unlawful killings by government security forces have again been highlighted as a major human rights issue in Jamaica by the United States Department of State.
The Department released its 2017 report on Friday.
It said government statistics indicated that up to September, security force-related fatalities increased by 44 per cent over the same period in 2016.
It said of the 124 killings in 2017, 118 involved the police, and six involved the military.
The State Department also said the number of killings by the security forces from January to September which were deemed to have occurred under suspicious circumstances increased by 10 per cent over the comparable period in 2016.
The State Department noted that the authorities arrested two cops on February 7, 2017 for a killing in 2013.
But it said investigations and prosecutions into fatalities by the security forces in prior years continued slowly.
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