The police service is reportedly working to acquire more body cameras for its officers.
This follows last Wednesday’s police-involved killing of six people, including a 16-year-old girl, in an alleged shoot-out at Razack trace, Freeport.
Police Complaints Authority (PCA) director David West said 36 people had been shot in 20 police-involved shootings so far this year.
He said it was especially concerning that none of the officers had an operational body cam recording the events.
Last year, there were reportedly 1,120 body-worn cameras issued to police officers.
Speaking with the media following the migrant student exemption letters ceremony at the Ministry of Education yesterday, National Security Minister, Fitzgeral Hinds said this problem was being addressed.
“I am aware that the Police Commissioner has mandated that body cams be purchased; some have been distributed across the police service in the frontline sections. I am aware that more are on order as we speak. I could understand the sentiment expressed by the Director of the Police Complaints Authority, but I am not possessed of sufficient facts and or details to comment specifically on the matter,” he said.
At a Joint Select Committee Meeting on National Security in February, Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher said police officers were not following instructions to wear their body cameras.
Then JSC chair and current Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Keith Scotland, advised Harewood-Christopher to rein in officers who did not wear body cameras, including disciplining those who disregarded using them.