Forbes hits at killer cops
POLICE Commissioner Francis Forbes yesterday made it clear that while he will defend lawmen who make mistakes when defending lives, he will not back cops who commit murder.
“I am willing to support police who go out and, in the lawful defence of their lives and of the lives of innocent people, they discharge their weapons and there is a mistake,” Forbes told yesterday’s closing session of the Police Federation conference in Trelawny.
“I am willing to support those people who make an honest mistake in the defence of the life of somebody. I am not willing to defend police who murder people.”
His comments come even as investigations continue into a police unit’s slaying, last month, of two women and two men in Crawle, Clarendon.
There have been accusations that the four were shot in cold blood, but the controversial Crime Management Unit (CMU) reported that the men and women were killed in a shoot-out after the unit went into the area in search of wanted men.
In the face of the swirling controversy, Forbes this week scrapped the CMU, relegating its head, Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, to an administrative post and transferring the eight other members to the Mobile Reserve.
Scotland Yard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI have been called in to assist local police in the probe into the shooting in a bid, Forbes has said, to ensure that no one can accuse the force of a cover-up.
“I am not willing to defend police who murder people; and it is my hope that that will not be the result of this investigation,” Forbes said yesterday.
His comments are in line with remarks made Tuesday by National Security Minister Peter Phillips, who urged a batch of graduating police constables not to cross the line in carrying out their duties, warning them not to assume the role of “judge, jury and executioner”.
“You cannot use your job to oppress and brutalise and kill your brothers and sisters unless you are faced with lethal force directed against you which threatens your life,” Phillips said. “You cannot be judge, jury and executioner simply because you have been armed by the people of Jamaica to act on their behalf.”
Over its 30-month life-span, the CMU has been linked to several controversial killings and there have been several calls from human rights groups and the parliamentary Opposition for it to be disbanded.
The police commissioner this week said that he had seen signals that some of its members were under severe stress, and that factor had played a major role in his decision to scrap the unit.
The CMU was established in the face of urgings for Government to address escalating levels of violence and was mandated to tackle problems including criminal dons, car-jackings, and gangs.
With its dismantling, the Organised Crime Investigating Unit was upgraded to divisional status and will now be responsible for investigating cop killings, the illegal importation of guns and ammunition, the illegal sales and general acquisition of guns and ammunition within the country, as well as targeting criminal dons.