Minister of National Security and Peace Dr Horace Chang has laid the blame for the deaths of two policemen squarely at the feet of civil society organisations whose public utterances, he claims, had a hand in their demise.

The minister, who has had an antagonistic relationship with such groups, in particular Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), which he has accused of benefiting from blood money, levelled the latest accusation on Tuesday during his contribution to the 2026/27 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

He told the House that two cops from his constituency — one retired and the other on the verge of retiring — “were killed because it was said that police were killing people without cause”.

“These were retired, so they [gunmen] found the soft targets,” he said.

According to Dr Chang, one of the cops — Mr Brown, a “quiet little old man” who was driving “one of the old Corolla they used to have, so him couldn’t drive too fast” — was gunned down on the road.

“Him drop in a pothole and a man just drive up and shoot him,” said the security minister.

“It was said the week before they [the police] had killed somebody without cause and they murdered the man,” he explained.

Stressing that Jamaica is a strong, democratic country governed by the rule of law and that he has no issue with criticism of the security forces, Dr Chang launched a broadside against groups he perceives to be a threat to law enforcement officers.

The security minister, who doubles as deputy prime minister, reiterated that Jamaica has strong institutional systems in place “to oversee, monitor, and evaluate the conduct of our public servants and police officers”.

“At one stage about four bodies [were] overseeing the police, and yet when we have an incident you hear we must call for independent review. Foolishness!” declared a visibly irritated Dr Chang.

He was unapologetic in his stance that members of the JCF should not be put at risk because of “verandah talk”. He pointed to statistics that show that a small fraction of cases involving members of the security forces investigated by the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) results in convictions.

“Sometimes some of these people who are calling for the police to always have cameras, they should go out there and go to Twickenham Park [training school] and let the JCF fire some rounds and let them hear what the M16 bullets really sound like,” the minister said, in a clear swipe at JFJ.

In his written text, Dr Chang was firm that investigating bodies must be allowed to investigate allegations that arise without civil society or the court of public opinion muddying the waters.

The security minister pointed to an Indecom report published in July 2024 which shows that, over the period 2011-2023, of the 1,936 fatal shootings investigated, only 66 cases resulted in criminal prosecutions. This equates to an effective prosecution rate of approximately 3.4 per cent.

“Of note, since 2024 there have been 11 cases in which police officers have been charged in relation to fatal shootings. Of those 11 cases, the overwhelming majority — eight — involved off-duty officers, while only three occurred while officers were on duty. If criminals come to believe that police officers are killing persons wantonly they will retaliate and attack other officers whom they perceive as soft targets. These groups must adhere to the evidence reflected in the data. It is wrong to do otherwise. It is dangerous, and it is immoral,” Dr Chang insisted.