RECENT figures released by the human rights watchdog group, Jamaicans For Justice, reveal that only 0.16 per cent of cases involving fatal shootings by the security forces end in convictions.

Security officers found guilty of extrajudicial killings are charged with manslaughter which is considered a lesser crime than murder and capital murder in the nation’s judiciary system.

There have been eight other cases involving convictions of police officers, but the charges range from shooting with intent, corruption and other breaches of the law.

The figures show that in the last nine years 1,411 persons have been cut down by police bullets, while another 108 have been injured. A total of 408 cops have also been charged for illegally discharging their firearms.

The year-by-year statistics show that police killings have risen by over one hundred per cent in the last nine years. In 1999, cops were responsible for 65 deaths and 34 shooting injuries. The figures grew to 149 deaths and 131 injuries in 2000.

Up to the end of September, 196 persons have been fatally shot by the security forces. The months of April and May showed the highest rate of police killings with 28 and 27 fatalities respectively. Twenty-four persons were killed in August, while 22 died at the hands of the police in March.

The police broke the 200 barrier in 2005 with 202 fatal shootings and 110 injuries. Last year there were 229 murders and 122 injuries.

JFJ co-convener, Carolyn Gomes, said the figures were garnered from the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI), the body set up by the constabulary to investigate questionable fatal shootings by the police.

“It is very distressing. The high rate of acquittals and the low rate of convictions points to a weakness in the system,” Gomes said.

Gomes has, in the past, pointed to the rotation of paid jurors who most times rule in favour of the police at coroner’s inquests.

That coupled with the huge backlog of cases that burden the skeletal staff at the Coroner’s Court sometimes make the wait for justice unbearable for relatives of persons killed by police.

According to Gomes, sometimes relatives of deceased persons have to wait almost a decade to get closure on their loved ones’ death. She pointed to the case of Hapete Henry, who was shot and killed at a football match in Arnett Gardens in April 1998.

The officers involved in Henry’s shooting were not brought to book until 2001 and the case is still before the court. The inquest into his death will continue in December.

Before the cases reach to the court, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions must first peruse the case files and rule whether or not the security officers involved must be charged for unlawful killings.

The operations of the BSI have again come under scrutiny by JFJ, who contends that the pace of their investigations need to be stepped up if the country is to truly start dispensing justice to all citizens.

“The BSI simply takes too long in dispensing of the mountain of cases of police abuse of citizens’ fundamental right to life,” Gomes said.

In addition the JFJ points to the cases involving the questionable deaths of:

. Michael Scarlett – fatally shot by police in April 9, 2002;

. Reginald Garcia – fatally shot by police in January, 2004;

. Morris Allen – fatally shot by police in January, 2001;

. Desmond Frazer – fatally shot by police on May 29, 2002; and

. Nicholas Moody – fatally shot by police on August 15, 2001, as examples of the long time it takes the court to dispose of cases.