KINGSTON, Jamaica – Members of the security forces could soon be facing disciplinary action for failing to respond to questions from investigators who work with the Independent Commission of Investigations’ (INDECOM) about their use of force against civilians.

In addition, any disclosure arising from the questioning of the security officers by INDECOM investigators shall be admissible at any trial of the member of the security forces who made the disclosure.

A Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament, which has been reviewing INDECOM’s first five years of operation, for more than a year now, made the recommendation in a report to Parliament recently.

The committee has also recommended that, in the case of proceedings against a member of the security forces or any specified official for an offence, evidence which is given that at any time before he was charged with the offence the officer failed to make the disclosure, the court or the jury may draw its own inferences from that failure to disclose.

The recommendations were included in a 22-page report tabled recently in the House of Representatives by the committee.

The proposed change, which is expected to be ratified by the House of Representatives when it debates the report next week, has been anticipated since 2012, when the Constitutional Court threw out a motion brought by eight policemen, who were seeking declarations that the commission did not have the power to compel them to give statements.

INDECOM had served notices on the policemen, identifying them as suspects in a murder case and ordered them to attend the Video Identification Unit at the Central Police Station on September 14, 2010 to furnish statements and answer questions.

However, they refused.

The policemen said they were seeking to protect their constitutional rights to a fair trial or fair hearing, seeking constitutional protection against self-incrimination, the right of silence, and the protection of the presumption of innocence.

Balford Henry