The Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) says it has crafted recommendations for regulations governing the management of incident scenes, given what it said are long-standing concerns about careless handling of exhibits and the current rise in fatal police shootings.

According to Indecom Commissioner Hugh Faulkner, the investigative body is “of the view that the protocol in terms of exhibit preservation has not been strictly complied with”.

“As you know, any contamination can have evidential consequence, and in fact, we have sought to elevate this from perception to legislation. So we have created recommendations for regulations for the incident scene management, and we have been in dialogue with the Ministry of Justice,” Faulkner told the Jamaica Observer on Thursday following a press briefing at Indecom’s Dumfries Road offices in St Andrew to delve further into the contents of its Special Investigative Report on Planned Police Operations (PPOs).

By law Indecom must attend and process all scenes where there have been shootings involving any member of the security forces or agents of the State. The Indecom Act authorises the commission to take charge of and preserve the scene of any incident. Further, the Act states that the commission will have primary responsibility for the preservation of an alleged incident.

In its report to Parliament Indecom presented data on recovered weapons during PPOs stating that of the 108 such incidents that were studied, “a firearm was reported as allegedly being recovered by the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) at the scene in 99 of those incidents”. It said in only nine of the cases was no gun reported as recovered from the scene — two incidents which involved the deceased allegedly attempting to take a cop’s firearm, and seven which involved possession of a weapon other than a firearm.

The investigative body said in 50 of 108 incidents, the weapons are reported as not being fired, albeit it was reported as being either seen, attempted to be drawn or pointed at the police. It also said that in the 58 cases where it was reported that a man fired a gun at police, mostly within the confines of small rooms, no cop in this study was fatally wounded in such close-range encounters.

“It also remains the case, as identified in 2014 and 2016, that the alleged recovered firearm(s) of the dead man do not remain in situ (on-site). Further, none are observed as correctly secured in exhibit bags and documented. Rather, they are collected by officer(s), placed in either their pockets, vehicles or other coverings and subsequently produced to Indecom,” the report stated.

On Thursday, Indecom Assistant Commissioner Hamish Campbell said this practice is untenable.

“The situation has always been that Indecom will attend a scene as quickly as possible, but it will never be really before an hour or two hours by the time the police inform Indecom, and then Indecom moves to the location, whether Montego Bay, Mandeville or here. The firearm allegedly recovered from the dead man is not present frequently when we arrive; that has been taken by the police or is produced and delivered. And what we are seeing is non-forensic packaging from the officer’s pocket, wrapped in a bag, a plastic bag, a paper bag, whatever,” he explained.

“We’re saying now is the time, if not earlier, that forensic bags, which are used by the Jamaica Constabulary’s forensic teams and ourselves, they should be available for planned operations as part of the equipment. We’re talking about planned operations and where an entry has been effected, a man has been shot and killed, a weapon is recovered. Part of the equipment should include a forensic recovery bag where the weapon can be immediately placed into that and sealed, and then, obviously, the police will retain that until Indecom attends either at the scene and at the station, where then it can be photographed and submitted as evidence,” Campbell stated.

“This concept of the gun being produced from one of the officer’s pockets or from the back of the car or wherever it’s been retained is not a professional way to handle recovered firearms in these incidents. Spontaneous events are very much more difficult. They are completely different. We are not expecting officers to be walking around or carrying forensic recovery bags in those instances,” he added.

Indecom, in the report which was tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday this week, said in the five years since 2021 the number of people killed in shooting incidents involving the security force have increased each year, and particularly in 2024 and 2025.

The commission said in 2019 the number of people killed during a PPO was the lowest, at 10, while in 2021 PPO fatalities was nine per cent of total fatalities, when 11 men were killed. It stated, however, that, “since 2022 there has been a marked and disquieting increase in fatal shootings occurring during PPOs”.

Indecom said “from the low of 11 persons fatally wounded in 2021, to 76 in 2024 it represents a 591 per cent increase in deaths arising from planned police operations in 36 months”.

Added the commission: “This continuing policing tactic is observed in the first seven months of 2025 (January-July), where 97 people have been killed during a PPO, representing 51 per cent of the 190 fatalities in 2025 (at July 31).”

Indecom was established by an Act of Parliament in April 2010 as a commission of Parliament, with responsibility for providing oversight and investigative responsibility of the use of force by the security forces in Jamaica. The creation of the commission represented an effort to ensure further accountability on the part of Jamaican law enforcement officials.