Director of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) Gillian Lucky hopes eventually the authority will be given its own crime-investigation tools and resources to probe police killings. Speaking at the PCA's education campaign at Marabella North?Secondary?School on Tuesday, Lucky said police killings were a big issue which caused the PCA great concern.
She said acting Police Commissioner Stephen?Williams agreed the length of time it took to complete investigations into police killings must be reduced.
Saying the day would come when the PCA would have to be like a similar body in Jamaica, called the Independent Commission of Investigations, Lucky said:
"They have now been given a forensic sciences laboratory. They have now been given the technology to be able to hold identification parades, do the assessment of fingerprints and so on."
She acknowledged, however, that Jamaica was "ahead of us" and the PCA's transformation could not be done overnight. Lucky explained the PCA did not investigate police killings, but monitored, audited, made recommendations and ensured a thorough investigation was done.
Referring to Saturday's killing of Biche resident Nigel Jones, which sparked protests, she said relatives were demanding justice. She added: "The burning of tyres and the having of protests is not going to help the situation. "What is needed is for a thorough investigation... what is needed is to find a way of getting these investigations done quickly and gathering all the evidence that is important and making it fair and that is what the PCA does."
Lucky noted, however, that police officers involved in killings were not always wrong and needed counselling, just like the victim's family members. She said the good news was that Commissioner Williams had agreed to put a system in place for police to receive counselling.