THE head of the agency charged with probing deaths, injuries, and alleged abuses by Jamaica’s security forces is calling for a major rethink of how body-worn cameras are deployed across the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) Commissioner Hugh Faulkner argues that most of the JCF’s body-worn cameras are concentrated within the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, whose officers are largely assigned to patrol commercial districts.

“Indecom is of the considered view that this deployment pattern is fundamentally incongruent with the operational and legal imperative facing the JCF and, by extension, Jamaica, particularly given the current high and deeply concerning incidents of police-involved fatalities,” Faulkner said at a Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) policy round table on body-worn cameras among law enforcement in Jamaica at The Courtleigh Hotel & Suites in New Kingston on May 27.

He insisted that priority should be given to cops deployed on planned operations, in particular in circumstances when they are likely to confront armed criminals. Doing so, he argued, would ensure transparency and accountability, especially in circumstances of fatal shootings and when there are no independent witnesses.

He acknowledged that Jamaican police work in one of the most challenging security environments in the Caribbean, and cops, “from time-to-time, encounter armed gangs, organised criminal networks, contract killings, extortion, and escalating firearm violence”.

Faulkner further acknowledged that the police enter volatile situations not knowing who may be harmed, who may resist, and not knowing if they will return safely to their families. He said no serious conversation about accountability can ignore these realities.

But he also argued that, “No democratic society can ignore the equally important reality that the State’s coercive powers must always be exercised transparently, lawfully, proportionately, and subject to objective review.”

That principle, he insisted, protects both the citizenry and law enforcement.

The Indecom boss noted that the police high command disclosed this month that 1,500 body-worn cameras are deployed daily across the force. He opined that this was an acknowledgement by the Government and the JCF that modern policing requires the use of appropriate technology. With the investment having been made in the technology, Faulkner said the issue before the nation is whether its deployment is being prioritised in terms of where accountability, risk and evidentiary needs are greatest.

“Our perspective is data-driven, particularly those officers who are part of tactical teams, those issues where search warrants are involved, high-risk apprehensions, and targeted raids for firearms,” he said.

He pointed out that those operations are not spontaneous, but involve higher intelligence, operational planning, and command structures.

“They also involve the foreseeable use of force contact between armed State agents and civilians who may also be alleged to be armed and are believed by the police to likely challenge their instructions,” he stated.

The head of the oversight body said the incongruence is brought into sharper focus when one considers the evidentiary context in which most fatal police encounters occur. He pointed out that commercial spaces, by their very nature, are characterised by heavy civilian foot traffic within large populations and a correspondingly high likelihood of independent witnesses. Additionally, he said such areas are usually covered by closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems and JamaicaEye infrastructure.

“In such environments, multiple independent sources of evidence are likely in the event of an incident,” he said. “The same cannot be said of the environment in which the majority of fatal police operations take place.”

He told the round table that many of the questionable shootings occur in remote communities, inside private dwellings, or in locations where civilian witnesses are absent or have been removed from the area prior to the reported confrontation.

“It is precisely in these settings that are known to be devoid of CCTV, JamaicaEye, or independent eyewitnesses that body-worn cameras are not merely desirable but imperative,” he said.

Faulkner also said that between January and April this year there were five shooting incidents in which body-worn cameras were acknowledged as being issued to the cops involved.

The five cases resulted in one fatal shooting, two shooting injuries, and two discharge of firearm incidents. No footage was recorded in any of the incidents and, according to Faulkner, the responses provided by the cops were as follows: The camera was not on because the officer did not have a clip to wear it on his uniform; two indicated that the camera was not activated; another didn’t get a chance to turn it on; while another stated it was in buffer mode, but he didn’t get a chance to put it in record mode. The other indicated that he was instructed by another officer to turn it on; however, the JCF indicated that no footage arose from that camera.

Despite more than 300 civilians being shot dead by the police in 2025 and others shot and injured, there is no indication that body-worn cameras were deployed in any of those incidents, whether the operations were planned or spontaneous, said Faulkner.

He shared that in 2024 the cameras were deployed in five spontaneous shooting injuries and one planned operation that resulted in a fatality. Of those incidents, footage was available only where one spontaneous shooting took place.

With Indecom being told to do its work in the same way the police have gone about realising a sharp reduction in serious crimes, particularly murders, the Indecom head declared that “objective evidence matters”.

“Context and sequence in events, in the investigation process matter, and video is a part of the solution,” Faulkner said, adding that a body-worn camera does not need to capture every angle perfectly to be valuable.