THE number of fatal police shootings in recent months has raised the eyebrows of Hamish Campbell, assistant commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), who has called for the Jamaica Constabulary Force to review its tactics when carrying out planned operations.

“Every year since 2019 the number of fatalities by the security forces has increased and I think it is very important that the police primarily reflect on their tactics and actions. Are all these shootings necessary, proportionate, reasonable and accountable?”

Up to August 16 this year there have been 106 fatal shootings of civilians. There were no comparative figures for the same period in 2023, but the figure for up to July 31 this year was 90, compared to 79 for the comparative period in 2023. And there were 67 fatal police shootings up to July 31 in 2022, according to data provided by Campbell.

While acknowledging that the police do come under heavy gunfire from dangerous criminals on a daily basis, which gives them reasonable cause to respond with deadly force, Campbell indicated that quite a number of the people killed, however, were not gunmen.

“One was a 14-year-old boy and two of them were women. Eight or nine of them were people with mental health difficulties. They were armed not with a gun, but perhaps a knife or a pickaxe or a stone. The numbers of fatalities are across a spectrum of Jamaican citizens but some people think that all of them are gunmen. They are not all gunmen, so let’s make that absolutely clear,” said Campbell.

“Even some of the people who are reported to be gunmen are not found with any guns. I think it is important that the numbers become transparent so people are aware, and so the police can reflect on it. A part of the debate we had was that the increase in shootings this year, and what we saw last year, had arisen because there were more people being fatally wounded in planned police operations. Planned operations should be safe operations,” Campbell said.

He added that with so many police personnel present on some of these planned operations, there should be tactics and methods which allow them to make arrests and bring people before the court.

“The police must look at their own tactics because for every shooting account we invariably get an opposite account from a witness, a girlfriend, a passer-by, or closed-circuit television (CCTV). This is why we keep going on about body-worn cameras,” Campbell said.

The Indecom assistant commissioner pointed out that CCTV footage has been countering some of what the police have been reporting following operations. He said the JamaicaEye network of camera systems is becoming more prolific at capturing footage at scenes as well as cameras on the properties of citizens.

“A number of cases we investigate do have footage from JamaicaEye, CCTV, or private residential cameras. That is becoming a more useful method of investigations and if the officers wore body cameras, that would also help. Officers will give an account. They may have been fired upon and that certainly is traumatic and their recall and memory of the event will almost always be inaccurate and sometimes just plain wrong.

“CCTV sometimes shows a different perspective in terms of the number of shots fired, what happened immediately afterwards, who did this or did that, as well as determining if the man had a gun or was the man firing a gun, as the police say. In some of these instances, CCTV shows a different view,” Campbell said while highlighting that CCTV footage also serves to vindicate cops involved in fatal shootings.

“We have a recent case that is still under investigation, where CCTV accurately showed what happened to the officer and his account was almost verbatim as what was on the CCTV. He was indeed the subject of a gun attack upon himself. Our role is to get the best evidence from everywhere and that allows the police force to demonstrate restraint where necessary, proper tactics and the prevention of loss of life and injury as far as possible,” he said.

“If their intention is to arrest these people and bring them before the courts, the killing of them is a failure of the operation. Many of them are dangerous men, but if the police are saying we want him because he is wanted for murder, that’s great, but if they are killed we don’t know what the outcome would ever have been. They are supposed to be bringing these men to court. They should be properly arrested, brought before the court and charged for the murders and all the things that they do.”