HUMAN RIGHTS lobby group Amnesty International says it is concerned that there continues to be insufficient will on the part of the local security and justice systems to tackle impunity for police killings.
The organisation was responding yesterday to the murder conviction of 30-year-old police Constable Glenroy McDermoth who was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for fatally shooting 25-year-old Michael Dorsett in the back in 2000.
"While this is a positive development in the fight against impunity for police killings, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and is not enough to restore the public's faith in the Jamaican judicial system," said Susan Lee, director of Amnesty International's America Programme.
According to the organisation, since October 1999 there have been more than 800 police killings in Jamaica, many of which have been blatantly unlawful. With the exception of Michael Dorsett, none of these cases has led to a conviction or has even been the subject of an independent and impartial investigation Amnesty said.
RECENT WILLINGNESS
Amnesty International said it acknowledged and welcomed the recent "greater willingness by the Jamaican authorities" to charge officers accused of murder. "However, the failure to secure convictions in cases of unlawful killings is a serious stumbling block to achieving real justice," said Ms. Lee.
The level of police killings in Jamaica is reportedly one of the highest per capita in the world. In 2005 there were reportedly 168 fatal shootings by police, the highest in 14 years. The last conviction of a police officer, known to Amnesty International, was in October 1999, when three officers were convicted of the murder of David Black, who was beaten to death at a police station in Trelawny.
"Not only does the continuing lack of convictions send a message that the police force can act with impunity, it hinders the families of the victims in their attempts to come to terms with their bereavement," Ms. Lee added.
The organisation said that, in recent years, it had documented numerous failings of the investigative system for police killings. The failings included the lack of investigating officers, the authorities' failure to protect the scene of killings, inadequate autopsies on the bodies and failure to take statements from the officers concerned in a timely manner.
