The following is the unedited text of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s response to a call from Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) for the resignation of the Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.

We note once again the call by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) for the Commissioner of Police to resign. We fully understand the context within which JFJ operates, and how it might drive them to mount a media campaign against the Constabulary and the Commissioner of Police, but we encourage them to show respect for their audience by presenting the facts.

Once more, comments attributed to them in the media refer to instances of “extra-judicial killings” by the Police and Police brutality. They have continued to make these reckless utterances despite the fact that The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM)—the body set up to investigate Police shootings and misconduct—recently reported that in most instances the Police acted professionally. Moreover, the Commissioner of Police has, on several occasions, publicly declared the intention of the Constabulary to reduce the number of fatal shootings, and has outlined steps being taken to achieve this. Over the last year, through media releases and interviews, the Police have appealed to suspects not to attack the Police when approached but rather to surrender peacefully. This is an attempt to avoid fatality. This year’s fatal shooting figure stands at 215, some 18 per cent below the 2009 level, and some 39 percent below the highest-ever recorded figure of 358 in 1984.

Over the last ten years, criminals have murdered some 16,135 Jamaicans and have shot and injured 16,516 others. It would be illogical and unreasonable for any well-thinking Jamaican to believe that any working Police Force would not come into contact with these heartless, vicious criminals whose sole intention is to destroy lives for their own profit. In fact, members of the Police Force have been the subjects of more than 600 gun attacks since the start of the year—almost daily, with some eleven Police Officers murdered by criminals so far this year. The unfortunate outcomes of some of these confrontations is the death of those who attack the Police, but it is by no means the desire of the Police to kill innocent Jamaicans, as the utterances by the JFJ seem to suggest.

As it relates to the clear-up rate, the Police clear-up rate over the last ten years stands at 40 per cent. In addition, firearm and ammunition seizures are at record levels so far this year, with the number of firearms seized at 647 as at November 21 and ammunition at 7934. While we are always aiming to improve, the JFJ fails to account for the fact that there is a significant time-lag concerning how cases move through the Courts; in fact, some of the cases that are before the Court today were committed ten years ago.

On the issue of the murder rate, there is no doubt that Jamaica has a high murder rate or that there has been a slight increase in murders year to date. However, while blaming the Commissioner of Police, the JFJ has failed to acknowledge the type of society we have to Police—a society where criminals shoot and kill the citizens with impunity, be they pregnant women, witnesses, elderly people, business owners, innocent children, even Police Officers. They have also failed to acknowledge and point out that the murder rate is currently 40 per cent below where it stood when Owen Ellington took over the reigns as Commissioner of Police.

There are some Jamaicans who have an antipathy for law enforcement and an affinity for criminal elements, and we urge Jamaicans for Justice to use their influence to convince the criminal elements in our society to lay down their arms and stop murdering their fellow countrymen. Every Jamaican has a role to play in crime fighting, and we look forward to the support of Jamaicans for Justice going forward.