34% Increase in fatal shooting incidents by lawmen – There has been a 30 percent increase in the number of fatal shooting incidents by members of the security forces and the department of correctional services. The Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM) announced the increase at a press briefing, Thursday.
The Commission says the security forces should resort to less lethal tactics especially when civilians are unarmed.
INDECOM also highlighted the need for lawmen to put greater emphasis on de-escalating situations involving the mentally ill before turning to deadly strategies.
The assistant commissioner of INDECOM, Hamish Campbell, says the figure includes 22 mentally ill persons.
Campbell says the INDECOM analysis indicates that the security forces should review and examine their use of force policy to reduce the number of fatal interactions with civilians.
He says there’s a definite need for the lawmen to resort to tactics to deescalate the situation. There is also an increase in the number of unarmed people being by killed the police.
He further adds that another 250 incidents saw officers discharging their firearms, however no one was injured.
INDECOM received 1098 complaints in 2020. Campbell says the increased numbers can be linked to the covid-19 restrictions implemented by the government throughout most of the year.
The commission is calling for greater use of body cameras in the jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) so as to provide an accurate account of an incident. A total of 17 police and 2 from DCS have been charged for fatal shootings in 2020.
