Pereira frightened by 43 police killings for 2020

RC priest Msgr Christian Pereira said it is time people who are called to be upholders of the law stop the alleged killings.

He said it is frightening that for the first six months of the year the police had shot and killed 43 suspects.

Pereira questioned the training police receive in the use of firearms and what has happened to a previous guideline to shoot suspects in the arms and legs to maim, rather than in the back and chest, to kill.

“If we concerned about life and justice then I believe that well trained users of weapons must be able to maim a ‘suspect’ without taking his/her life."

He questioned whether insufficient time to properly train officers was a factor, “so that in defending life or keeping the peace, they aim for the easiest part of the human person, and quite often cause the a death of a civilian to occur.”

As one of the measures to deal with escalating crime, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has embraced the "one shot one kill" approach.

Perreira said training allows officers to face and fire at different non-living targets as they become comfortable with the weapons they are being trained to use.

“A big target is very easy for anyone trained or untrained to hit,” hence the reason police and gangsters alike usually hit the biggest part of another human being, namely the back or chest.

“Shooting someone in the back or the chest is a sign that the user of the firearm is not well trained. Furthermore, shooting someone on the run is an act of cowardice. The leg or arm of a person is a difficult target and most persons do not aim for nor shoot at a person’s leg.”

Protests tookplace in Port of Spain after the police shooting of Noel Diamond, Joel Jacobs and Israel Clinton in Morvant last weekend. The three were shot hours after GEB officer Allen Moseley was killed in the Morvant area.

Griffith has denied any correlation between the two shootings

Pereira said, “It is time for us to kindle a deep respect for human life, the life of the alleged criminal, the life of the police officers and law-abiding citizens, as well as the rule of law. The observed increasing trend in this senseless behaviour must be reversed and eventually stopped.”

He said that incident of “alleged murder” committed by officers leave many questions for which the wider public need answers.

“Officers of the law are perceived to be upholders of the law, defenders of the peace and men and women trained in negotiating peaceful resolutions to difficult and inflamed situations.”

He noted it is sometimes difficult to defend a peace which is not apparently present.

“It may be difficult to negotiate resolutions when the particular parties are not open to have the issue resolved but in all situations officers of the law must be upholders of the law.”

He said just as each act of murder by gangsters is a death too many, society is moved to ask whether each killing by officers of the law is necessary. It is time to stop alleged killings by people "who are called to be upholders of the law.”