The Editor, Sir:

It is gratifying to witness positive changes, such as the transition from the M16 rifle to the MP5 sub-machine gun. I proposed this change and addressed some related issues in a letter published in The Observer in July of 1999.

Most police firearm interactions are at close range and the MP5 gives the police the advantage. The 9mm cartridge used by the MP5 may not be as powerful as the M16, but it does not have to be to excel in the job at hand. Less powerful does not mean weaker; less is more.

The MP5 is very accurate and with proper training, firearm discipline and ethical use, the police officer will be empowered to face criminal adversaries and at the same time have confidence there will be a reduced risk of the bullet unintentionally injuring an innocent citizen due to excessive bullet travel and penetration. The MP5, which is shorter than the M16, has the added psychological benefit of not being quite as intimidating to the average bystander.

Someone once said, "The job is not over until the paperwork is done", and this idea should be forcefully applied to police and private security firearm use. I do not believe there are many, if any, officers who expect to sit down within hours of discharging their firearms to write a detailed account of the facts, as they see it.

As much as the British have improved police firearm training in Jamaica, they will not be able to boast lasting success until we effect fundamental changes in how we perceive accountability and liability. One of the strongest training tools is case studies developed from promptly collected discharge-of-firearm reports. In the training scenario, case studies are not concerned with names, only with facts and actions which are used as valuable learning tools.

Training programme

An effective training programme not only implements force policy, it should help shape it by harvesting and presenting data that are then ploughed back into the training programme so that we identify and learn from mistakes in the past to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

If we are really serious about accountability and reducing liability, we must not continue to treat firearm-incident data as secret and potentially harmful to the force. Transform the force into a public asset that truly values "brains over guns" by going all the way to empowering our police officers by developing and disseminating effective firearm policies, by requiring individual ethical performance, by providing performance-based firearm training, by testing and recording training performance, by facilitating officers to practise and train between annual testing, and, by facilitating our trainers to design training based on actual discharge-of-firearm data.

When this is done, our public and private security officers will have confidence that their actions are correct and defensible and thus able to be reported accurately.

I congratulate Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin on his stance in addressing the tough challenges facing the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

I am, etc.,

JAMES M. PAIR

Managing director

Trident Security Training

Law enforcement firearm trainer