Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth – Chief of police in St Elizabeth, Supt Fitzgerald Barrett suggested yesterday that his investigators were close to making arrests in relation to an assault on a TV cameraman in Slipe, southwest St Elizabeth last Thursday.

“We are pursuing the situation vigorously and very, very soon persons will be brought to book,” Barrett told the Observer.

St Elizabeth-based TVJ videographer Rodney Longmore was mobbed and beaten by residents of Slipe while covering a police operation in which a man, who the police say aimed a gun at them, was killed by police bullets. The citizens claim that the man, 23-year-old Roger Banton, was innocent.

Longmore suffered a broken ankle after being hit by a building block as well as injuries to other parts of his body including a long graze down his back inflicted by a machete-wielding man. He is now on crutches and will be unable to work for at least two months.

Longmore’s camera worth $450,000 was also destroyed, the windshield and windows of his car smashed and the tyres slashed.

The attack on Longmore has triggered anger and alarm in the media fraternity. Both the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) which represents journalists and the Media Association of Jamaica which incorporates media heads have said that there is need to review the coverage of demonstrations.

The PAJ said on the weekend that the assault was “a stark reminder to members of the media that the sensational pandering to and glamorisation of criminality in the name of competitive advantage and profitability is self-defeating in the long run”.

The PAJ called on the news media to use the incident as “a wake-up call to move away from the kind of sensational and irresponsible reporting which has given the criminal elements in the society a feeling of invincibility”.

And the MAJ suggested that “we, along with the rest of society must now review how and in what context giving coverage and voice to these mobs must be undertaken, and at what cost.”

Said the MAJ: “We acknowledge our role as watchdogs of the public interest without fear or favour, but the society must decide whether it will sit by and allow rogue elements to attack media workers carrying out their duties, as those actions constitute a frontal assault on press freedom.”

Some residents turned their fury on Longmore following the pre-dawn shooting of Banton whom the police say they had wanted for questioning in relation to murder. The police say they took the gun which had been pointed at them – a Larcin pistol with three live rounds – from Banton.

Two arrests, one for murder in St Catherine and another for illegal possession of a firearm, were also made during the police operation.

The residents rejected the police’s version of the shooting, saying Banton who was alone at home at the time of the incident did not own a gun and had never been seen with one. They also alleged that the police left Banton to die without making an effort to get him to hospital following the shooting.

In the aftermath of the initial shooting incident, a 25-year-old mother of four, Barbara Barrett, was shot in the right breast and upper arm – apparently by a stray bullet. She has since been released from hospital. Five policemen had to receive medical treatment after being hit by stones thrown by rioting residents. Three police cars were also damaged.

Also hit by a stone during the incident which lasted several hours, Supt Barrett confirmed yesterday that in line with procedure all those involved in the initial police operation had been taken off front-line duties.

This, pending the completion of investigations by the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI), which probes allegations of police criminality.

Barrett said the policemen were all undergoing counselling.

The Superintendent on Tuesday expressed the hope that those with information relating to the incident “will come forward” and that “law abiding citizens in that community will continue to work with the police to weed out criminal elements”.

He said the police had “credible” information that Slipe had been infiltrated by criminals from other sections of the country, notably Kingston and St Catherine, and that illegal guns were “in abundance” in the community which is a major ganja-producing area.

Barrett said the difficult terrain of Slipe which is in the Black River Morass – necessitating the use of boats to gain access in some cases – often proved a hindrance to police operations.