Police Blast INDECOM In Parliamentary Submission Police Claim INDECOM Actions Impacting Criminal Investigations

A sub­mis­sion, pre­sum­ably orig­i­nat­ing from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) sup­port­ing addi­tion­al lim­i­ta­tions on the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), has raised con­cerns among mem­bers of the joint select com­mit­tee (JSC) review­ing the oper­a­tions of the commission.

The sub­mis­sion claimed that INDECOM has exhib­it­ed “overzeal­ous actions” from incep­tion, which has result­ed in a “strained rela­tion­ship” between the police and its investigators.

It said that the approach adopt­ed by INDECOM over the years “has erod­ed the con­fi­dence of a crit­i­cal mass of police offi­cers, in their pur­suit of hard­ened and vio­lent crim­i­nals, and the con­duct of crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tions in very seri­ous cas­es, where INDECOM side­lines the police inves­ti­ga­tors by assert­ing its priv­i­leged posi­tion of pri­ma­cy in the investigations”.

“Therefore, in some instances, the actions of INDECOM have impact­ed neg­a­tive­ly on crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tions, there­by risk­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of crim­i­nals escap­ing pros­e­cu­tion and pos­si­ble con­vic­tion,” the sub­mis­sion stated.

“This is pri­mar­i­ly due to the adver­sar­i­al approach tak­en by INDECOM inves­ti­ga­tors, in the con­duct of their inves­ti­ga­tions into inci­dents in which the police used dead­ly force in the line of duty,” it added.

The sub­mis­sion was titled “JCF Contribution to the delib­er­a­tion of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the Proposed Oversight Mechanism for the Independent Commission of Investigations”.

However, Senator Tom Tavares-Finson, leader of Opposition busi­ness in the Senate and a mem­ber of the JSC, not­ed that it did not iden­ti­fy the mem­bers of the JCF respon­si­ble for its sub­mis­sion, nor did­n’t have a sig­na­ture to it.

The Opposition sen­a­tor felt that, for the sub­mis­sion to be dealt with for­mal­ly by the com­mit­tee, it required some clarification.

“We need to know who are respon­si­ble for it, and we need to invite them here to explain their posi­tion,” Tavares-Finson suggested.

Chairman of the JSC and Minister of Justice Mark Golding not­ed that it was sub­mit­ted to the sec­re­tary of the com­mit­tee, with­out a name or sig­na­ture. It was even­tu­al­ly cir­cu­lat­ed to mem­bers and the sup­port staff of civ­il ser­vants, yesterday.

After the meet­ing, the Jamaica Observer sought a com­ment from INDECOM Commissioner Terrence Williams. However, he said he had just received the sub­mis­sion and could not respond.

The JSC has been divid­ed recent­ly on the ques­tion of addi­tion­al over­sight for INDECOM. Senator Gording and his col­league, Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, have sup­port­ed pro­pos­als for addi­tion­al over­sight for INDECOM.

“This com­mis­sion, if overzeal­ous, can com­plete­ly demor­alise and demo­ti­vate the police force,” Bunting warned the JSC recent­ly. He said that, in the cir­cum­stances, there should be no fear about anoth­er lay­er of oversight.

But the major­i­ty of mem­bers of the com­mit­tee, includ­ing Opposition mem­ber Delroy Chuck, Senator Tavares-Finson and Government sen­a­tors Lambert Brown and Wensworth Skeffery, have strong­ly object­ed to a lay­er of over­sight between INDECOM and the Houses of Parliament, of which it is a commission.

The JCF and the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) have con­sis­tent­ly called for the pow­ers of INDECOM to be limited.

Golding said that since the mat­ter was raised again last month, the com­mit­tee’s sec­re­tari­at has received sev­er­al sub­mis­sions on the sub­ject. The sub­mis­sions came from INDECOM, The Norman Manley Law School (NMLS), Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), as well as legal advice from the Office of the Attorney General. The JCF sub­mis­sion was received later.

He said that, while the JDF and the ODPP sup­port­ed pro­pos­als for addi­tion­al over­sight, the NMLS and JFJ were opposed.

INDECOM was estab­lished in 2010 to inves­ti­gate actions by mem­bers of the secu­ri­ty forces and oth­er agents of the State, which result in death or injury to per­sons or the abuse of the rights of persons.