SERIAL KILLER COP

Hothead cop? – Single policeman involved in multiple civilian killings
BY KARYL WALKER Associate editor — Crime/Court desk [email protected]
Sunday, March 24, 2013

STATISTICS released by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) reveal that a single cop with a fearsome reputation has been involved in more than 15 fatal civilian killings since 2011.
The commission did not reveal the details of the shootings because some of the cases were still under investigation.
However, it said that its figures showed that the particular cop — who has a fearsome street reputation — has been involved in at least nine fatal shootings in St Catherine in 2011, and another seven since he was transferred to a police division in St Andrew last year.
The cop — who cannot be named by the Jamaica Observer because formal charges have not yet been brought against him — was involved in the fatal shooting of three men in St Andrew earlier this year.
At the time, residents of the community accused the policeman, a man they deeply fear, of sending threats to one of the slain men days before he was killed.
Following fiery protests in the community where the killings took place, it was announced that he had been taken off front-line duty.
Being taken off front-line duty means the cop will be confined to work in the guardroom, or assigned to other desk duties at a police station, but will not be directly involved in street patrols and other policing activities outside the station house.
However, the cop is now back on the streets and members of the public and some of his colleagues are wondering if he is a ‘favoured son’ of his superiors.
His return to front-line duty has rankled human rights lobby group, Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ).
“That matter in which the three persons were killed is still under investigation and he is back on the streets. How can a cop who is involved in so much atrocities be allowed to run wild?” said JFJ’s Executive Director Dr Carolyn Gomes.
Jamaica Constabulary Force rules governing a cop who is removed from front-line duty dictate that the incident in which the cop is involved is reviewed by the administrative department and the findings of the review forwarded to the police commissioner.
The commissioner will, in turn, decide whether the policeman is fit to be returned to front-line duty based on the evidence that is presented to him.
“Demonstrations and accusations have nothing to do with the commissioner’s decision. It is based solely on the evidence that is presented to him. Some cops have been taken off front-line duty for up to a year, while others have been ordered to undergo counselling or additional training in the use of firearms,” a senior cop said.
The policeman has a street reputation as a no-nonsense individual, but some of his police force colleagues said some of his policing methods leave a lot to be desired and work against established police social intervention programmes.
“He does not exactly believe in the concept of community policing and sometimes his slash and burn methods destroy years of work by some cops who have worked hard to build the trust and confidence of the public. Things like kicking over bingo tables and using abusive words to some females create a divide between the police and the public we are sworn to serve, protect and reassure,” one police officer told the Sunday Observer.
However, other cops who have worked with the so-called rogue policeman claim that underneath all the bluster and aggression, he really believes deeply in service to country. They add that he has contributed to a drop in the crime rate in every division in which he has worked.
“Not everybody will like him, but he works hard and has a passion to beat back hardened criminals. It is true that sometimes he uses bad words, but he has driven fear into the criminal element,” another colleague said.
A total of 65 persons have been fatally shot by police in the first 80 days of this year.
Between January 1 and March 31 last year, the same number of civilians were cut down by lawmen’s guns, compared to 60 over the same period in 2011.
Last week, 41-year-old mason Michael Robinson became the latest person felled by policeman’s bullets. He was killed in the Jackson Town community which runs off Molynes Road in St Andrew.
Irate residents of Jackson Town are adamant that Robinson was a Christian and was never involved in any illegal activity. They said the police action was a case of mistaken identity and have demanded justice.
In recent weeks, there has been a flare up of violence between men from Jackson Town and a nearby community known as Ackee Walk. There have been several shootings and at least one person has been killed in the conflict.
Police reported that they went into the area on an intelligence-driven operation when they approached a premises and saw a woman flee. The cops claimed they saw Robinson point a gun at them and they took evasive action and fired their guns, killing him.
A handgun was allegedly taken from the scene.
Two Saturdays ago, three residents of the Shrewsbury Housing Scheme in Petersfield, Westmoreland identified as 28-year-old firefighter Andrew Brydson, his brother Triston Brydson, 24, and their cousin, 38-year-old Kingsley Green, were fatally shot by police.
The police claim they were in search of gunmen whom their intelligence indicated were in the area. The police claimed that a shoot-out ensued and two guns, an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm pistol, were recovered.
The killings drew the ire of persons in Shrewsbury and Lacovia, St Elizabeth, where the men lived before they relocated to Westmoreland.
The residents in both communities said the slain men were Christians and had taken a break from the construction of a restaurant in which they had planned to do business when they were shot in cold blood by the police at a shop where they had gone to buy lunch.
In Lacovia, a massive demonstration was staged in protest against the fatal shootings.
All the incidents are being probed by INDECOM.

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