MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Justices of the peace (JPs) have been urged to utilise their office to broaden acceptance of the importance of police using body-worn cameras and the vital role the technology plays in probing the actions of law enforcers.

“We ask the JPs to be a voice for the implementation of the body-worn cameras,” Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) Commissioner Hugh Faulkner appealed to JPs during a sensitisation session organised by custos of Manchester Garfield Green at Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville last Thursday.

“I believe that the crime figures over a protracted period has caused some fellow Jamaicans to be of the view that the police should be given carte blanche authority to deal with what persons call criminals. In other words, there are persons who have been devastated by crime who believe that no questions should be asked when the security forces act in any particular way,” Faulkner said.

“I can understand, but I ask you, as justices of the peace, to shape the perspective of the nation that in a country of justice, regardless of a person’s antecedent, station in life, they, too, are entitled to an inquiry into their demise… it is better for the country if there is accountability and transparency,” he said while pointing to the “high” number of fatal shootings by the police.

“In 2024 there were 189 fatalities involving the security forces, that was up from 155 in 2023. Since 2025, up to April 3 we have had 85 fatalities,” he said.

He reiterated Indecom’s call for the use of body-worn cameras by the security forces, particularly on planned operations.

“Indecom has been airing this concern for maybe a decade or more and in 2020 you felt it was close to happen, and then we are still not there in the quantum that we desire. From our figures last year I believe only one incident where the officer had reported that he had a body-worn camera, but he unfortunately hadn’t turned it on,” Faulkner said.

“… It can be evidentiary material for the police themselves, for Indecom, and then admissibility when it comes to the court, so it provides the investigator with an independent document of what transpired,” he added.

Faulkner said footage can be reliable to assist in probes, particularly for clarity.

“The human being in the witness box, after him swear on the Bible, remembers some things and he doesn’t remember some things, and sometimes, in my view, it could very well be selective recollection, but the camera captures everything,” he said.

“If somebody threatened the law enforcement officer, pulled a gun and in trying to do what he is doing and the gun dropped over a precipice, you know that threat would have dissipated… this is where self-defence is no longer applicable,” he added.

In February this year Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake, in an obvious response to groups and individuals who have accused the police of not using body-worn cameras during special operations, reiterated that activating the technology without the necessary infrastructural build out to support the storage of data is nonsensical.

“We hear a lot of talk about body-worn cameras, why we don’t put on body-worn cameras. Pinning body-worn cameras without this level of investment and preparation makes no sense,” Blake said at a seminar staged by the Office of the National Security Advisor at AC Hotel Kingston.

Stressing that there is no disconnect between the transformation of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and crime-fighting, Blake said, “Our technology effort is broken down into four basic programmes: Infrastructure, which really is your servers, radio network, satellites; and after you have the infrastructure you need to secure the infrastructure; you need to ensure that the structure is secure; and the data goes only to who it is supposed to go to.

“Now that we have the network and the infrastructure is secure, the next thing is the tools, the software, the case management system,” he explained.

“We have to have all of this in place. The infrastructure must be in place because all of this is an effort to supporting automation of your business process — meaning all of your software — and there is no data that is more resource-demanding than video and images that is extracted from body-worn cameras,” he stated.

“Bear in mind that these images captured today may be relevant for court proceedings months down the road, and so it requires capacity. So, just pinning them and having the videos captured and when you are ready to use it you don’t have it makes no sense,” the police commissioner said.

Last Thursday, Faulkner also reminded the media that Indecom has a responsibility to refrain from commenting on its ongoing investigations.

“The media is always anxious for Indecom’s remarks and comments and we can understand, but one bait we will not take is to make any comment before our investigation. The law says we have to be independent, objective, and impartial, so we have to be judicious in our comments. We can’t make a rush to judge statements and then you investigate. But what we have said is that the figures are high,” he said.

“We are not saying that there are not instances when the security forces may not act in a particular way, because the same law for self-defence that is available for the citizen… is the same law that is available to the law enforcement bodies,” added Faulkner.

BLAKE… activating the technology without the necessary infrastructural build-out to support the storage of data is nonsensical

Justices of the peace at a sensitisation session in Mandeville last Thursday. Photos: Kasey Williams

Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations Hugh Faulkner addressing a sensitisation for justices of the peace in Mandeville last Thursday.