Government Senator and senior member of the Jamaica Labour Party’s Communications Taskforce, Marlon Morgan is calling on Jamaicans from all walks of life to stand in solidarity with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and its members by wearing blue on Tuesday, the same day as the planned Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) protest against an alarming rise in police killings in the country.

READ: JFJ to lead protest against police killing ‘crisis’, demand accountability

In a news release on Monday, Senator Morgan said: “Given the scourge of criminality, and in particular, violent crime with which Jamaica has had to grapple over many years, there can be no denying that our policemen and women work under very tough and trying circumstances. The efforts and energies of all well-thinking and law-abiding Jamaicans should be focused on supporting and encouraging our hard working police men and women; not tearing them down.

“It is quite heartening and should not be overlooked that a culture of accountability is increasingly being fostered by the JCF, and professionalism is being prioritised through ongoing human rights training and sensitisation,” he continued. “When one considers the advent of INDECOM, IPROB, the Police Civilian Oversight Authority, and other internal administrative protocols, there are greater mechanisms to hold the police to account, and safeguard the public against police excesses today, than at any other time in the history of this country”.

JFJ says its planned demonstration “aims to spotlight the escalating crisis of police fatal shootings in Jamaica and demand accountability, justice, and systemic reform.” More than 100 individuals have been killed by police since the start of the year, way more double that of the same period in 2024.

Noting the 36.6 per cent reduction in murders up to April 26 this year when compared to the corresponding period last year, Senator Morgan asserts: “While the JCF and its members are not above criticism, at a time when Jamaica is registering historic and welcomed reductions in murders and other major crimes, the interest of the country will be better served by constructively criticising the police instead of tearing them down.

“I am urging well-thinking and law-abiding Jamaicans to rally behind the police and motivate them by wearing blue on Tuesday April 29. At the same time, I am imploring the public to shun actions and utterances that may serve to demoralise and demotivate the police,” Morgan said, adding “A demoralised and demotivated JCF can only serve to advance the interests of the menacing criminals in our society, and not the vast majority of us, who want to see the police winning the fight against criminality and sustaining the prevailing reduction in murders in our beloved country”.