Dear Editor,
I write in condemnation of the killing of schoolboy, Kelvin Fraser by a police officer. It was the use of excessive force. The policemen involved could have subdued the unarmed teenager.
The report indicated a group of youths. There was no indication of arms or any kind of weapon.
Even if the police went with guns those with guns should have stayed in the background and entered the fray only if absolutely necessary.
There needs to be a serious review with regard to which members of the force are issued with firearms. There needs to be an independent investigation of the matter and a general review of such cases in order to genuinely understand and appreciate these incidents with a view to implementing strategies and providing the relevant training to prevent future occurrences.
Policemen must be lectured to as part of their training that each and every life is valuable and sacrosanct and they should be taught that the persons they are confronting could be innocent as well as guilty, and that they have mothers, sisters, brothers and children.
If these views, these essential human feelings are absent, then they are reducing their own humanity.
This was not a case where they were responding to robbery or armed assault or going after wanted persons.
I would like to support calls for a parliamentary committee to oversee and receive complaints with regard to abuses by members of the police force.
The leadership of the PPP – and I emphasise PPP and not government as it may have to be pushed – should join in the call for an independent investigation. The police should welcome an independent investigation as incidents such as this place in question the decent policemen who I am sure outnumber those trigger-happy ones.
There is no way that I can empathise and truly appreciate the pain of the mother and family for the shocking loss. But I can at least join in the demand that justice not only be done but be seen to be done through a transparent and independent process.
Yours faithfully,
Rajendra Bissessar
