Jamaican Police.Com

Speaking yesterday at the Police’s Bureau of Special Investigations’ (BSI) award and prize-giving ceremony held in downtown Kingston, Public Defender Earl Witter beseeched Jamaica’s police to place greater emphasis on the manner in which they engage citizens, and said the number of persons killed by the police could be less “if there was greater regard for the rules of engagement“.

He added: “For too many years, there has been a rate of slaughter of our people by our people themselves that is not only frightening, but demands reduction,” and “… we think that perhaps, with a more determined and conscientious approach to law enforcement, no matter the perils that confront the constabulary and particularly those on the front line, greater regard to the rules of engagement can lead to a reduction in the incidence of fatalities.”

The public defender’s office investigated 59 cases of police killings last year, nearly twice as many as the 34 such investigations that were done in 2008.

The BSI, which has responsibility for probing police shootings, investigated 241 fatal shootings by police officers in 2009, up by 17 from 224 in 2008.

Speaking also at yesterday’s function, Sergeant Raymond Wilson (Chairman of the Police Federation – which represents rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force) agreed that there is a need for greater adherence to rules of engagement. However, he said attention must be paid to the situation under which Jamaican policemen and women operate (high incidents of gunmen engaging the police). Despite this, he reminded police officers that, in carrying out their duties, they should “consider their authority, what is legal and what is proportionate“.

Susan Goffe (spokesperson for the human-rights group Jamaicans For Justice) also spoke at the function, and charged that the police are not paying careful attention to its own use of force policy.

Tags : Earl Witter, Jamaica Public Defender, Police Rules Of Engagement, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, Susan Goffe