Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Stewart

The Jamaica Police Federation is opposed to calls from sections of the society to have policemen implicated in controversial shootings held in custody as normal citizens are.

The calls come in the wake of recent incidents, including a shooting last month in St. Thomas where a pregnant teenager and a man were killed. Public outrage came to a climax four Fridays ago when 18-year-old André Thomas was shot and killed in what the police called a shoot-out, but which was countered by residents, who claimed it was a cold-blooded murder.

current procedure

The federation's general secretary, Corporal Hartley Stewart, says the current procedure in handling police involved in such incident, "doesn't need any tinkering with at the moment."

"There is a protocol currently that works. It says that where an incident occurs, it is the duty of the policeman to make a report to his superior officer and sometimes a criminal investigation is started right away," Stewart tells The Sunday Gleaner.

"At the end of the investigations," he continues, "a file is submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions who then rules as to what should happen. The court and the Director of Public Prosecutions have the authority, where they believe that a criminal suspect is a flight risk, to take that person into custody."

However, Justice Lloyd Ellis, chairman of the Police Public Complaints Authority (PPCA), is of the view that when police personnel are involved in cases where there are either allegations of abuse or fatal shootings, they should be jailed before investigations are complete.

'crime is crime'

"My personal feelings are that crime is crime. If a private individual or a citizen commits an offence, then he is arrested; if a policeman commits a crime, then they should be treated the same way," says Ellis

The PPCA head also believes something needs to be done immediately by the new Government to curb what, according to him, is not a new phenomenon of police killings; but the recent incidents have caused the society to become apprehensive. "Expectations are running high and people are expecting the new Government to take action so that the situation is abated," argues Ellis.

He has also praised the plan by the Government to establish an independent body which will investigate cases of police excess. He, however, believes that the PPCA should be expanded. "We are not satisfied with the present makeup of the body. We are not proactive; we are reactive. We need to go out and educate policemen in human rights requirements," states Justice Ellis.

Since the start of the year, over 200 persons have died in shootings involving the police. Statistics also show that the police have been shot at over 300 times and 12 policemen have been killed since the start of the year.