JFJ PRESS RELEASE: REDUCED NUMBERS OF KILLINGS BY POLICE A SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT & RAISES ISSUES ABOUT SUSTAINING THE TREND Data from INDECOM and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) indicates that the number of killings by the police has been cut by more than half this year compared to the same period in 2013. 103 fatalities were recorded to the end of October 2014, compared with 220 in 2013. Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) welcomes this news, as we are sure Jamaicans across the country do. It is important that the causes of this significant reduction be understood, and further actions be taken in order for the downward trend to continue and be sustained. INDECOM’s role in this reduction is an important one, with the charging of a number of Clarendon police for murder appearing to have had a significant impact on the long-standing practice of killings by the police. A dramatic drop in police killings immediately followed, with the number falling to 14 in February and 4 in March of this year. INDECOM’s public commitment to extending their investigations up the chain of command, if the evidence so led, also sent a signal that responsibility has not remained only at the level of individual policemen who pull the trigger, but would rise to the hierarchy of the force also. The influence of international partners and increasing public opposition are also important contributing factors to be considered in the decline in killings. Jamaica and the JCF are not yet free of the criminal use of lethal force, however. The total figure is still far too high, although the current trend may result in one of the lowest annual numbers of police killings in Jamaica in decades. The last time the figure was below 200 was in 2004 at 131 and the lowest in four decades was 100 in 1994. If the number of killings can be so sharply reduced in the space of one year, it shows that it is possible for the number to be further reduced and that Jamaica does not have to accept high levels of police killings as a routine part of policing. An important part of the process of ending impunity for extrajudicial killings is the need for cases in which policemen have been charged in the death of persons to be brought before the courts in a timely manner and vigorous prosecutions mounted. The long delays that plague the justice system affect these cases also. It is important to note that the belief of some that reduced police killings cause murders to generally rise has no basis. While the number of murders in Jamaica remains at an intolerably high level, murders over this year have hovered between 2.6 and 2.8 per day. This is marginally below the average daily rate of 3 per day of the previous three years. (It has not been seriously affected by the good JCF policing that has kept most other major crimes declining. Minister Bunting’s Unite for Change has also had no noticeable impact.) As a primary route to effective murder reduction, a programme to mainstream the youth and develop communities must be implemented. -30- Monday, November 17, 2014, Kingston, Jamaica.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:48:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015