Horace Levy, Contributor

LEVY (center)

Extra-judicial killing is decades old. What is very disturbing is its recent climb - 229 killed by police last year, up from the annual 140-150 in the 1990s, which was bad enough - coupled with the total silence of the police commissioner, minister of national security and minister of justice.

The two cut down in Rema by police and soldiers in the early hours of Friday, June 29, are a case in point. For several months Rema has had no warring, no gunshots. Squatters, the front area on the west side of Collie Smith Drive, was holding its regular Thursday night 'session' when the police surrounded it, with a barrage of their own shots, wounding several men, two fatally. They had the women lie down on their faces. One of the wounded pleaded for his life until the word (overheard) came through from a police superior to "Finish him off". Neither of the dead men was a wanted person or found with a gun. There was no shoot-out.

Worse still, nothing will come of this episode. Police are judge and executioner now. And consider what message this sends to youth inclined to delinquency.

For fearof being taken in by those who defend criminals, many people hesitate to believe those who weep on television for a dead son or brother. But perhaps the statistics will help show them that much of what they see on the screen is murder - and for its cold-bloodedness and numbers, just as horrendous as the recent killing of a mother and child in Torrington park. Clearly, society and officialdom are blind to the plank in their own eye!

The following data in Figure 1 (ignoring the imperfect additions) on the work of the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI), the division of the Professional Standards Branch that deals with police shootings, are taken from The 2006 Performance Annual Report of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, The Professional Standards Branch.

281 cases reported

So, of 281 cases sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for ruling, only 20 were ruled for court, and from that number, a single conviction. Justice system reforms cannot come too soon!

The killing by police continues because enough people in authority and in society want it that way. Evidently, they believe this is how to deal with crime. And their belief is unshaken by the fact that far from succeeding, it has had the opposite effect: Homicides have steadily increased over the past 18 years. Under public pressure, the last killer squad was closed down and one or two well-known squad leaders removed. But former squad members have been allowed - or is it encouraged - to continue to ply their cruel trade. The killing policy remains.

It may be cynical to think that those responsible for the killing policy want an underclass to beat on. One thing is certain, though, the increase in police killings is a provocation. Their behaviour in Rema and elsewhere is doubly provocative. Don't the police have enough trouble on their hands without asking for more? Those in authority have a pressing responsibility to speak up.

For fear of being taken in by those who defend criminals, many people hesitate to believe those who weep on television for a dead son or brother. But perhaps the statistics will help show them that much of what they see on the screen is murder.

Investigated

2006

Completed

Ruled for internal discipline

Sent to DPP for ruling

Ruled for criminal charge

Arrested or charged

Convicted

Acquitted

Pending

452 (77from 2006; bcklogof over1,124)

17; 89 tocoroner'sinquest117 - nocriminal

action

20 casesto court

1

1

18

515 (229

fatally; 144 injured)

281+156 fordiscipline

15

BSI

figure 1