INDECOM Raises Alarm on Police Body Camera Failures. The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) is urgently raising concerns over the number of law enforcement fatal shootings in instances where body-worn cameras are either not activated or not worn, emphasizing the need for immediate action.
These incidents include dozens of planned police operations where persons end up dead, and there are no records of the alleged shoot-out or confrontation that led to their demise, highlighting the lack of transparency and accountability in these operations.
INDECOM’s Assistant Commissioner Hamish Campbell raised the troubling issue during a press conference on Friday. But what’s more disturbing is his announcement that the police killed 149 people so far this year. Plus, another 66 were shot and injured.
Campbell disclosed that of the 252 fatal and non-fatal police shooting incidents in 2023, not a single one involved the deployment of a working body-worn camera.
Only one camera was deployed in a fatal shooting incident. Still, the officer did not turn it on. That matter has been reported to the commissioner of police, Dr. Kevin Blake, and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (J.C.F.), Campbell said.
The assistant commissioner noted that officers had cited various reasons for the non-deployment of body-worn cameras.
Officers sometimes said they were not trained to use the cameras, even though they wore them. Other times, officers said their stations are not equipped with body-worn cameras. Or the persons responsible for issuing the cameras were not present.
INDECOM Insists body-worn cameras, when deployed, enhance the evidence-gathering process
Campbell said INDECOM firmly insists that body-worn cameras, when deployed, enhance the evidence-gathering processes, stressing the need for better investigative tools in law enforcement.
He told the press conference that so far this year, four body-worn cameras were affixed to officers where they were engaged in non-fatal shooting incidents.
Significantly, the cameras were not turned on in three of those incidents. On the fourth occasion, the officer turned the camera on after the shooting. “So we see a post-event matter where the police have shot an injured person,” said Campbell.
Campbell pointed out that while cameras are deployed in certain circumstances, “there seems to be a pattern where they’re not activated.”
He said that as of October 31, the number of people killed in planned police operations stood at 58 from 50 operations, representing 40 percent of those killed so far this year.
Campbell emphasized that these people died in planned police operations “where these specialized teams are entering properties, yards, premises and the person is ending up dead”.
“In not one of those planned operations were body-worn cameras deployed,” he added.
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