Editorial | Gains by cops; more to do

If there is one development from the past year that most Jamaicans will wish is carried over to 2026 it is the dramatic decline in intentional homicides.

Murders fell by 42 per cent (there were 666 homicides up to December 27), which means that, barring some unthinkable event, homicides will be lowest in 32 years (654 in 1993) and the first time the figure will be below 700 in 33 (690 in 1994).

As Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake observed, “this is not a marginal achievement, but a substantial reduction”, which he said reflected the hard work of the constabulary that was engaged in “intelligence-led policing” against gangs, as well as increased firearms interdictions. But the 2025 statistics do not stand alone. They follow on from the 18 per cent decline in murders in 2024, a seven per cent fall the year before that.

So, there is a good reason for The Gleaner, as should all Jamaicans, to celebrate with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) over these successes.

For, in comparison to the 1,141 civilian homicides in the previous year, the drop in murders translates to 475 Jamaicans being alive at the end of 2025. And, rather than being among the outliers, with a murder rate of close to 50 per 100,000 that weighted heavily on the regional average, Jamaica’s current rate of 25/100,000 is edging closer to the average for Latin America and the Caribbean of 15 per 100,000.

This, if sustained, is good for social life and economic development. Some estimates say that crime, in spending on its prevention and lost production, annually costs Jamaica between seven and 10 per cent of its GDP.

CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS

But, while this newspaper congratulates Dr Blake and his team at the JCF, we make two critical observations, upon which we hope the constabulary will seriously reflect and take onboard for urgent implementation.

First, we recall, with respect to sharp declines in the number of murders, Jamaica has been here before. Between 2009, when there were over 1,680 intentional homicides, and 2014, murders declined by over 40 per cent. However, it began a new upward trend in 2015 that crested in 2017, followed by undulating movements until the more recent declines.

The point is that sustaining this decline in violent crime, and crime more broadly, can’t be taken for granted. However, we take Commissioner Blake at his word that the constabulary has things covered.

Nonetheless, like Hamish Campbell, the recently retired deputy head of the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), The Gleaner is disturbed that the drop in civilian murders has been accompanied by a steep upward spiral in police killings of criminal suspects, as well as at the lack of urgency by the JCF in introducing body-worn cameras (BWCs) for its members, especially those who go on specially planned operations (SPOs).

With one day to go in 2025, there were 310 killings by the security forces – almost all by the police – a 64 per cent increase on the previous year’s figure. This followed hikes, respectively, of 24 per cent and 16 per cent in 2023 and 2022.

INDECOM was established in 2010 as an independent body, accountable to Parliament, to investigate shootings and allegations of abuse by the security forces, largely because of accusations of extra-judicial killings against the police and claims that the constabulary did a bad job of investigating its own.

As Mr Campbell, a former British police officer, recalled in a valedictory interview with The Gleaner, when he joined INDECOM in 2013, there were 258 fatal shootings by the police. There was a steady decline, thereafter, to the lowest level of 86 in 2019. Since then, the movement has been sharply upwards.

DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND

“It’s disappointing to see the numbers rise up again in such a manner, and it’s difficult to understand,” Mr Campbell said.

While family members and community residents often contradict police claims of shooting to protect themselves, Dr Blake, like his predecessors, has consistently argued that killings have to be seen in the context of Jamaica’s high rate of violent crime and the willingness of hardened criminals with guns to confront the police. He has told human rights critics and their better efforts would be to advise criminals not to challenge the police.

However, INDECOM and human rights groups point out that police shootings, including the 310 this year, are never captured by bodycams. The police say they don’t have sufficient BWCs for a general deployment, and that those they have are assigned to officers on public safety beats.

Further, Dr Blake has said, the police is building up the technological and communications backbone to accommodate bodycams – an argument he has proffered for more than a year, for a process that has been going on for longer.

Recent incidents caught on private security cameras, which appear to contradict police accounts of incidents involving fatal shootings, have fuelled calls for the acceleration of the project to kit out the constabulary with BWCs. In the meantime, INDECOM and the rights group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), have proposed that some of available BWCs should be assigned the officers on SPOs, which account for a small fraction of the constabulary’s operational engagements with the public, but account for 40 per cent of its killings. This newspaper continues to back that idea.

The strides in reducing murders will hopefully be matched this year by a reduction in police homicides.