PCA head: Cop killings should not go unchecked

Head of the Police Complaints Authority David West has raised concern over the public’s reaction to the latest police-involved shooting, which left six people dead.

West said while the public might react with a sense of catharsis when police kill people suspected of a serious crime, it is dangerous when when they disregard the rule of law.

“When there is a fatal police-involved shooting, there seems to be a celebration in some quarters. But with each fatal police-involved shooting there must be an independent investigation,” West said. “If we allow these reported breaches to go unchecked, we will be heading down a very slippery slope.”

He said the PCA is mandated to do an independent investigation into every police-involved shooting with the use of civilian investigators. He added that the PCA does not arrest or charge anyone, but investigators forward their findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police for action to be taken.

“Once the use-of-force policy is breached, it is our duty to conduct an impartial investigation,” he said.

West said, for the year, police had shot 36 people, in 20 incidents of police-involved shootings. He noted with great concern that in each of these 20 incidents, not one police officer had an operational body cam recording the events.

“It is a major concern for us, because there is a departmental order saying that police officers must wear body cams,” he said.

He brought up the death of 39-year-old Jonathan Wharwood, whom police shot dead on July 23. Officers claimed he attacked them while they were searching his home during an investigation into an incident in which a police officer was shot while on patrol the previous day.

West questioned why police officers were not being reprimanded for not wearing body cams while on patrol.

“The police were looking for a person who shot an officer. They would have known that the suspect may have been armed, so they would have had time to put on body cameras, and yet, they failed to do so.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin explained that while there were body cams for every division, there were still not enough for every officer. He said police were working assiduously to get more body cams, but for the time being, when officers were called to respond they would have to do so with whatever they had while on patrol.

“You could be out on duty and you don’t know when you will get a call. If you do not have a body cam at the time, you cannot go for a body cam, then go to the scene. You have to respond, because the TT public is crying out for decisive action,” Benjamin said.

“When that happens, you have to move.”

He said whether the police officers had body cams or not, he believed officers on duty took actions that were in keeping with the rule of law.

He said the evidence showed six people killed in the latest police-involved shooting did not “not have good intentions.”

Benjamin was referring to an incident at a house on Razack Trace, Freeport, in which five men and a 16-year-old girl were killed in a shootout with police on August 14. Police said they found three guns and items related to robberies at the scene.

Benjamin said, “If you look and you see the evidence there, clearly the intent could not be one where they were innocent bystanders. They were identified as suspects in a robbery and they had items from the robbery there as well, and they had firearms to engage the police.”

Still, Benjamin said police officers were mandated to protect and serve all citizens, even criminals. That is why when police-involved shootings occur, officers do their best to save the lives of the suspected criminals by rushing them to hospital, he said.

“We are not about taking people’s lives. Our intent is to stop the offence,” Benjamin said.

“What we try to do is when a person engages us, we will use the requisite force. However, we will still move to save their lives. So it is important for us to ensure that we rush that person to seek medical attention.

“In seeking to do that, the police is showing its intent is not one of malice. We do our duty without fear, favour, malice or ill will. Sometimes they (wounded suspects) die along the way. Sometimes they die while seeking medical attention. But it is all part of us seeking to do the humane thing to help the individual.”

Benjamin called on the public to assist the police in making everywhere in TT safe.

“The people who find themselves on the other side of the law are the people who are seeking to disrupt the peace of TT. Our job is to apprehend them and bring them to justice. If criminals engage the police we will use the requisite force in accordance to the constitution, the rule of law and the use-of-force policy.

“We believe that citizens should not live in fear. Innocent people are not being targeted by police, we are going after offenders. We want to encourage people, if they know someone who is involved in gang activity, discourage them from being there, and let us work together to make our communities better.”

Police said at around 11.35 am on August 14, officers responded to information about a robbery that had occurred at about 6.30 am that day.

The information they received led them to Razack Trace, Freeport, where six people occupied a house. When they arrived at the house, police said, the occupants started shooting at them. In keeping with the use-of-force policy officers shot back and killed all six people in the exchange.

The six victims were identified as 31-year-old Jovan Simon of Diamond Village, Claxton Bay and Nelson Street, Perseverance, Couva; Nicholas Caesar; 19-year-old Saleem John, of Sum Sum Hill, Claxton Bay; 23-year-old Kevon John of Sum Sum Hill, Claxton Bay; 21-year-old Isaiah Oliverre of Maturita Marie Avenue, Arima; and 15-year-old Salome Ranghill of George Street, La Romaine.