THE Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), the entity that probes more than 200 fatal shootings and reports of abuse by State agents yearly, says completion of its inquiries in a timely manner is being hampered by late ballistics reports from an under-resourced State forensic lab.

“By the nature of what we do, from time to time, we have to rely on the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine for certificates regarding ballistics, chemistry, biology and post-mortem reports. Currently there are a number of investigative files that we have, for which we await scientific reports,” Indecom Commissioner Hugh Faulkner told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

“The main challenge is with the ballistics reports, and Indecom investigates over 200 firearm-related incidents on a yearly basis. So, the timely return of many of these matters would ensure that the complainants, family members etcetera, are in a better and more informed position to pursue civil remedies where applicable; our submission of matters for the special coroner would be timelier and complainants would have speedier closure to their matters,” Faulkner said.

“We are looking to complete our investigations for our matters within a 12-month period — at the most, we wouldn’t restrict them to a date — but we would appreciate the provision of these reports,” he said.

His comments come even as the commission, in a statement to the media on Monday, said it had responded to, and commenced, probes into three separate police shootings last the weekend, increasing the total to 19 security forces fatal incidents for October.

The statement came ahead of reports of another fatal shooting involving police personnel in Manchester on Tuesday.

The firearm and toolmark (ballistics department) of the forensic lab analyses firearms, bullets, and cartridge cases to provide ballistic evidence for the courts. It also provides crucial information used as leads for investigators through the output of the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) and Electronic Trace (eTrace) systems. The information obtained through IBIS provides links between firearms and/or crime scenes throughout the island. The lab’s website states that the department consists of highly trained firearms examiners and ballistics experts who are competent in firearms examination, identification, shooting incident reconstruction, distance determination and serial number restoration.

According to Faulkner, the late submission of the reports not only hampers the commission’s investigative process but also delays the submission of matters for rulings by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Asked to say what direct resource challenge the lab is facing, Faulkner said, “I would rather the forensic lab identify the challenges, but from our perspective we believe human resource is a major problem in terms of their personnel.”

“The file would only be properly complete upon the receipt of their certificate’s etcetera. We are mindful that the records indicate that from 2011 Indecom had indicated challenges where reports were routinely delayed for over a year, awaiting the results, and over the period we have been advised and verily believe that increased budgetary allocations were necessary for the forensic lab to optimise its output. We have had stakeholder meetings with the executive director and we are satisfied that there is a resource problem,” Faulkner told the Observer.

From this standpoint Faulkner said Indecom is seeking to “persuade the Government to facilitate the adequate funding of the lab”.

“The spin-offs will be multiple in the interest of justice,” he said, noting that “ideally certificates should be provided within three to six months from submission to the lab”.

“When the exhibits [taken from crime scenes] have been submitted, we expect the certificates ideally to be provided within three to six months,” Faulkner stated, while pointing out that the “exhibit load varies from case to case” as “some matters have multiple exhibits, especially where a number of law enforcement officers are involved”.

“You have to be mindful that while the courts might seek to decide on culpability or exoneration, our processes sometimes may hamper a police officer who has a matter pending and even closure also, and that’s closure that we would wish to provide for all our complainants and our concerned officers,” he noted.

“Indecom can only state that an investigation is complete when the investigation process itself is complete and we are in receipt of the forensic documents that touch and concern that investigation,” Faulkner said.

In the meantime, the Indecom boss said there have been improvements in terms of the post-mortem processes where the lab is concerned, adding that they should be commended in that regard.

In 2020, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang said the lab was fully equipped to deal with ballistics and DNA analyses. Addressing Parliament at the time Dr Chang described the institute as the finest and best equipped in the Caribbean.

The Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine, which is a merger of the Forensic Science Laboratory and the Legal Medicine Unit, is the chief testing lab for the Government.

Following the 2014 merger, a two-storey annex was built at the institute at a cost of $300 million. It boasts closed-circuit televisions, a training/conference room, library, access control, fire suppression, and a DNA database.