Dear Editor,

Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake and now former Prime Minister Bruce Golding have pushed back against Jamaicans for Justice’s (JFJ) concern over the more than doubling of police killings this year.

In their criticisms, no reference is made to the fact that JFJ was careful to clarify that it does not immediately label these incidents as extrajudicial killings, acknowledging that each case must be investigated individually. However, it pointed to a disturbing pattern that has emerged from statements made by the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom): No body-worn cameras were reported as issued or worn in these fatal encounters.

If the police are engaging in carefully planned, somewhat predictable, intelligence-driven interventions, then why not use body cameras? Golding makes very little of this, and the commissioner none at all.

Likewise, neither mentioned the fact that there is so little trust in the police that even the people in Grange Hill who want the gangs gone are not willing to provide information that would allow successful prosecutions or the fact that heavy-handed policing helps to further alienate the youth who already feel isolated and thus drawn easily into crime.

Neither did they discuss the fact that this Government much prefers states of emergency (SOEs) rather than zones of special operations (ZOSOs), the latter is designed to help deal with the cause of the violence, not just the symptoms. And none highlighted that the Government’s economic model, despite low unemployment, fails to provide much sense of upliftment or hope.

Why are there gangs in rural, remote Grange Hill? In my opinion, suppression in one place just causes crime to move to another. What, therefore, is the solution? A blanket police State with all our freedoms compromised?

JFJ and Indecom are surely correct to bring to the nation’s attention the massive increase in police killings. Until the police prove that the rise is due to an increased number of operations, an increased ruthlessness by criminals, and by situations — best proven by body-worn cameras — that leave no alternative other than the use of lethal force, then we should all be concerned.

Paul Ward

Oracabessa, St Mary

pgward72@gmail.com