(Jamaica Observer) The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) says 95 per cent of incomplete shooting-related cases are awaiting the results of forensic testing, and has recommended that the necessary steps be taken to improve the operations of the Government Forensic Lab, or give the commission budgetary allocations to use private local and overseas laboratories.
“Cases have been delayed for up to two years awaiting forensic results. The Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) has a total of 279 cases awaiting forensic analysis,” the commission said in its first report tabled in Parliament yesterday. The report on INDECOM, which was established in August last year to probe abuse of the rights of citizens by members of the security forces, detailed the progress of current investigations and gave information on a special investigation into the identification of Jamaica Constabulary Force and Jamaica Defence Force personnel during operations.
The commission also lamented that Jamaica’s arrangements for investigation into the use of force by State agents continue to be plagued by delay, inertia and lack of adequate resources.
“INDECOM’s early operations have confronted these problems and this report suggests further steps that ought to be taken to ensure compliance with the mandate. The most important reform proposed calls for immediate increase in human and material resources at the Jamaica Constabulary Force Forensic Laboratory as, under the current arrangements, investigations are routinely delayed for over a year awaiting the results of testing,” the report said.
“Forensic analysis is an essential part of modern investigations, with the most important tests being ballistic identification and gunshot residue testing. Ballistic identification can discover whether a projectile or spent shell found in the victim or on the scene of an incident came from the weapon issued to a member of the security forces. Gunshot residue testing can assist in refuting or supporting a contention that someone recently fired a weapon,” the commission said.
It said while the constabulary’s forensic laboratory is staffed by well qualified and experienced experts in various forensic disciplines, the completion of their testing in a reasonable time is severely hampered by their having to face Jamaica’s heavy workload with inadequate equipment and staffing.
“During a tour of the forensic lab INDECOM was advised that gunshot residue testing was one year behind and that ballistic testing was significantly behind. In many cases a member of the security forces cannot be charged without an unfavourable result from the scientific analysis. In others, the prosecutor might be reluctant to advise charging without having sight of these results. Speedy scientific analysis is vital,” INDECOM said.
According to the commission, unless these matters are addressed Jamaica will remain non-compliant with the standards for effective and expeditious investigations.
In the meantime, the commission said it has taken “particular note of the ease with which an agent of the State can be anonymous in his or her interaction with the public and how this anonymity contributes to lack of accountability and impunity”.
It said: “Proper identification of the suspected member of the security forces remains a significant struggle. In many cases agents of the State are able to be practically anonymous in their interaction with the citizen; anonymity encourages impunity.”
The commission also said uniforms make it difficult for witnesses to make a visual identification; identification parade procedures are often not effectively employed; some members of the JCF fail to display their identification numbers; some members of the security forces are not required to wear identification numbers, while some sometimes wear masks.
“Our Internet poll revealed that over 70 per cent of respondents claimed that in their interaction with the police, the identification number could not be seen or was difficult to recall,” the report said. “Over 10 per cent reported that the police officers were masked or that their gear made identification impossible. These poll findings, although unscientific, are largely consistent with our investigative findings.”
The commission said that to combat this challenge, greater supervision and enforcement of existing rules are the first steps. “We further recommend extending the requirement to wear identification numbers to the gazetted ranks of the police force and to the army, when engaged in internal security operations. Finally, we recommend the reconsideration or ending of practices that do not encourage whistle-blowing,” INDECOM said.
At the same time, the commission complained that “JCF records are sometimes not properly maintained, complicating and sometimes preventing, for example, proof of the members of the security forces involved in an operation or the weapons issued to them”.
Furthermore, it said members of the security forces were sometimes unable to name their colleagues involved in operations in which a citizen was killed or injured.
It said the case involving 13-year-old Janice Allen, who was shot dead near her gate in Trench Town, West Kingston, on April 18, 2000, allegedly during a shoot-out between the police and gunmen, exemplifies how poor police record-keeping, combined with failure to employ identification parade procedures, made it impossible to cogently identify the suspect police officer.
“The loss of the firearm register was at the end of an unfortunate series of events which included the fact that the police investigators were unable to determine who issued the firearm to the suspected officer,” INDECOM said.
