THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), which currently has 1,178 ongoing investigations into allegations of abuse by the security forces, is raising alarm over what it says is the “striking appearance of collusion in many” of the cases.

At the same time, the commission has revealed that the top three allegations of fatal shooting, assault and shooting injury account for more than 60 per cent of all its investigations.

The commission, in its quarterly report tabled in Parliament last week, said since the start of the year it “has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of incidents occurring islandwide” with fatalities standing at 65 as at March 31, with 35 in March alone, the highest number of fatalities in any given month since INDECOM began operations in 2010.

“Another challenge that we face in our investigations is the issue of collusion. It is striking that in all of our current cases, no member of the security forces implicates themselves or their colleagues in misconduct. Perhaps an explanation may be the ease with which agents of the state may collude before giving a statement,” INDECOM Commissioner Terrence Williams said in his message which forms part of the report.

“Based on close examination of statements, it would not be inaccurate to say that the facts seem to always absolve the officers involved in the incidents as well as their colleagues. On a separate but important note, it was also revealed that only in four per cent of the total number of fatalities being investigated do we see citizen and police accounts of incidents accord,” the INDECOM head said.

Williams also noted that INDECOM, in its last report to Parliament, had made recommendations to the relevant heads of the security forces, urging them to put mechanisms in place to discourage, if not prevent, this occurrence.

That report had also covered the recurring problem of identification of members of the security forces when on operations.

“We continue to receive reports indicating the wearing of concealment gear by members of the security forces. This practice makes it easier for agents of the state to act with impunity and flies in the face of accountability,” he said.

In the meantime, INDECOM said in the last 17 months its research revealed that “officers from the divisions with the highest numbers of fatalities are more often than not involved in multiple fatal incidents, in very short periods of time”.

“The commission found instances where one constable accounted for 13 per cent (six of 45) of the fatalities in one division; this same officer was involved in four fatal shootings over a three-month period,” the report said.

In another division, one corporal accounted for 24 per cent (eight of 33) of the fatalities being investigated by INDECOM’s Central Office, furthermore six of the eight fatal shootings in which he was involved took place over a period of nine months.

The commission said, with these figures in mind, it strongly believes that the constabulary’s Use of Force Policy ought to be reviewed as well as the treatment of agents of the state who are repeatedly involved in fatalities.

INDECOM also identified the distribution of fatalities in the presence or absence of a higher ranking officer as another cause for discomfort.

“Our case management reports suggest that it is more likely for a fatality or an injury to occur when a sergeant or officer of higher ranking is not present, as opposed to when one is present. According to our research, 40 per cent of all fatalities being investigated occurred when no sergeant or officer of a higher rank was present. This suggests that fatalities could be reduced with greater supervision,” INDECOM said.

The 1,178 investigations into allegations of abuse by agents of the state are ongoing over the entity’s three branches — St James (Western Office), Mandeville (Central Office), and Kingston (Head Office) — with some cases dating back to 2008, two years before INDECOM began operations.

In the current report now before Parliament the allegations are divided into 23 categories, including fatalities (by shooting or under other circumstances); abuse of office; unprofessional conduct; assault; corruption; rape; misappropriation of property; and threat.

The divisions with the highest police-involved fatalities are St Andrew South, Kingston Western, Clarendon, and St James.

In the meantime, Commissioner Williams said while the establishment of INDECOM was a bold move to bring effective and independent investigations of alleged abuses by the security forces, the initiative stands threatened by inadequate resources and challenges to real independence. He said the commission continues to be “hampered by the inordinately long period of time it takes to get ballistics certificates and other forensic evidence from the Government Forensic Laboratory”.

“Based on our assessment, more than half of our shooting cases could be soon concluded and a final report produced if the ballistics certificates were made available to us,” Williams noted.