Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas (centre) claps during a presentation ceremony yesterday. With him are Jevene Bent (left), assistant commissioner of police and Acting Assistant Commissioner Leon Rose. The occasion was the Jamaica Constabulary Force's presentation of scholarships to students across the Island, held on the lawns of the commissioner's Old Hope Road office, in St. Andrew.

Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

AS THE new Cabinet moved into its second weekend yesterday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding revealed the Government would be moving with urgency to address national concerns over allegations of police excess and abuse.

The Prime Minister said he had given instructions for work to proceed immediately towards the establishment of a single independent authority to investigate instances of abuse by members of the security forces.

Mr. Golding's announcement came at the end of a week marred by at least two cases of alleged police excess and abuse - in St. Thomas and St. James - which left three persons dead.

Police accused

In St. Thomas, on Monday, two persons - Dexter Hyatt, father of two, and 19-year-old Tian Wolfe, who was three months pregnant - were killed in what residents described as cold-blooded murders, but which the police said were shoot-outs. On Wednesday, residents of Flankers, in Montego Bay, St. James, accused the police of murdering 29-year-old Peter Johnson.

The four policemen who were part of the groups involved in the St. Thomas shootings have been removed from front-line duties by Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas.

The firearms of all police personnel involved have been sent to the Government Ballistics Laboratory to be tested, while the hands of the policemen have been swabbed.

According to a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister, a meeting was held on Wednesday with Attorney-General Dorothy Lightbourne, Solicitor General Michael Hylton, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel Albert Edwards and representatives of the Ministry of Justice.

Subsequent to the meeting, a report is to be submitted to Mr. Golding illustrating the legislative and administrative framework needed to establish the institution.

Review

According to the statement, several institutions such as the Police Public Complaints Authority, the Civilian Oversight Authority, the Bureau of Special Investigations and the Office of Professional Responsibilities will be reviewed and recommendations for changes made.

This is not the first time a Prime Minister has recommended an autonomous body to probe alleged police brutality. In 2004, P.J. Patterson in his contribution to the Budget Debate, signalled his intention to establish a sovereign body to look at allegations made against the police.

Forensic evidence

"The national investigative body must be equipped with an appropriately qualified cadre of investigators with skills that include the investigation of crime scenes and the collecting and analysing of forensic evidence," he had said. However that body, the National Independent Investigations Authority, did not get beyond the pages of his speech.

Mr. Golding has also called a meeting for Monday, with Minister of National Security Derrick Smith and the police and military high commands, to discuss incidents of alleged police abuse and the level of crime in the island.

Since the start of the year, more than 180 persons have been killed by the police, while 229 persons died at the hands of the police last year.

mark.beckford@gleanerjm.com