STUNG by continuing criticisms over questionable police shootings, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is turning to firearm training to put a dent in the high rate of such incidents, and at the same time sharpen awareness of the legal and moral responsibility of the police in the use of firearms.

The first training session concluded Friday with a batch of 22 cops from the Mobile Reserve at the end of a rigorous three-week classroom and field course which covered subjects such as combat and defence shooting, proper use and care of firearm, legal and moral responsibility of shooting, anti-terrorist technique and the use of force policy.

Senior Superintendent Charles Simpson of the Mobile Reserve, believed the training to be paramount in bringing a higher level of professionalism in the use of the firearm and hopefully reduce the levels of controversial shootings.

“It will definitely bring to the fore an overall higher level of professionalism in the execution of their duties,” Simpson told the Sunday Observer. “It is a key ingredient in the Use of Force Policy because it forces you to apply care when using the firearm and to be proportionate to the threat that faces you.”

He insisted that although all police personnel were trained in the use and care of the firearm during their initial training at the Police Academy, it was important that they undergo this new technique in firearm use.

The Use of Force Policy is modelled off the United Nations Charter on the Use of Force by law enforcement officers, and is designed to guide police officers in their interaction with the public.

The police stipulates that the firearm should not be removed from the holster unless it is intended to be used. In the event it is, the reason for its use must be justified under the law.

Jamaica’s over 8,000 strong police force has over the years wrestled with reports of controversial police shootings resulting in citizens being shot and killed, maimed or wounded.

Statistics from the police blotters revealed that in 2005, the police shot and killed 168 civilians and wounded 104 others. For this year, up to January 20, the police have shot and killed 14 people.

Over the past two years, more than 45 cops have faced criminal charges of murder and shooting with intent, after being arrested and taken before the courts. These charges have arisen from controversial shootings that led to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) ordering the arrest of the shooters.

Last year, former head of the disbanded Crime Management Unit (CMU) Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams and five of his CMU members were arrested and charged with four counts of murder which arose, from a controversial shooting in May 2003, where four civilians were killed in an alleged shoot-out at Crawle, Clarendon.

It was a landmark case in which for the first time in the Constabulary’s history a police superintendent was charged with murder. However, at the end of the seven week trial in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston – which ended in December 2005 – the 12-member jury returned a verdict of not guilty and freed the cops.

And in one of the latest settlements arising out of one such shooting by police, the government has offered over $4 million in compensation to the families of one of several persons shot dead in Flankers, St James, in what police initially said was a shoot-out with gunmen.

SSP Simpson shied away from predicting that such training would help to reduce controversial fatal shootings, but stressed that the training would generate higher level of police professionalism in the execution of duty.

The current initiative is not the first. Four years ago under the administration of former police commissioner Francis Forbes, a similar course was undertaken under a plan to retrain every single policeman/woman to appreciate how lethal the firearm is and their legal and moral responsibility during confrontations.

Acting deputy commissioner Linval Bailey who closed the latest firearm tactical and endurance training at Mobile Reserve sports club auditorium Friday, told the participants that the training they had just received was only the start.

More sessions are planned in mass crowd management, public order management, hostage negotiation, response to barricade situations and anti-terrorism.

Bailey also disclosed that the Mobile Reserve, which he described as a powerful platoon, would be called upon to shoulder more responsibility this year, because of their response capability and capacity.