Nelson, Police Dismiss JFJ Human Rights Abuse Claims

National Security Minister Dwight Nelson and the Police High Command have scoffed at claims by human-rights lobby Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) that there has been a further erosion of human rights since the west Kingston incursion almost one year ago.

In a report to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, JFJ claimed that incidents of human-rights abuse have rocketed to troubling heights in the aftermath of the bloody military operations in west Kingston.

JFJ also pointed to an increase in the number of fatal shootings by the police last year as proof that human rights are under threat in Jamaica.

But yesterday, Nelson rubbished any notion that Jamaica was moving towards a police state.

Nelson also pointed to the latest numbers regarding fatal shootings by the police as proof that the security forces are moving in the right direction.

"I know that there have been expressed concerns about the number of police shootings ... and some organisations have gone abroad and painted Jamaica's name and reputation in this area as very bad," Nelson told journalists yesterday.

"But since we are taking about the first quarter of this year, (I note) that we have had 41 fatal shootings as compared with 78 for the corresponding period last year. So the number of fatal shootings by the police is down almost 50 per cent," added Nelson.

"So it would be unfair to state that there has been an increase in the number of fatal shootings by the police ... and this, to a large extent, is due to the continuous training that is being done by the police force."

The national security minister was supported by deputy commissioner in charge of operations, Glenmore Hinds, who questioned claims that persons were detained at random.

"I am not aware that we are randomly picking up people off the streets. It is not our way of doing business at all," Hinds declared.

He said the police are committed to protecting the rights of all Jamaicans.

"We are robustly policing our members and to address it at the divisional level, we have built in stronger management structures so that we have placed more officers at geographic divisions to have 24-hour supervision by gazette officers at every station," Hinds added.


(2011-4-8/Jamaica-Gleaner)