JFJ opens fire on Ellington

With police data showcasing a spiralling murder rate and investigators unable to make breakthroughs, human-rights agitators are declaring that Police Commissioner Owen Ellington has overstayed his time at the Old Hope Road offices.

Official crime data reveal that of the 1,056 murders reported up to November 16, a mere 426, or 29 per cent, were cleared up.

This suggested that perpetrators of the remaining 630 murders, or 71 per cent, had eluded the crime fighters' dragnet under Ellington's watch.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Periodic Serious Crimes Review noted that the 1,056 murders reported up to November 16 had climbed from 974 murders reported for the corresponding period in 2012.

Throughout the week, stakeholders have been expressing alarm over the inability of both the policy and operational arms of the crime-fighting mechanism to either contain crime levels or bring perpetrators to book.

Executive director of Jamaicans for Justice, Dr Carolyn Gomes, has targeted Ellington, bluntly calling for his head.

She charged that Ellington has failed to keep the murder rate under control and improve the police clear-up rate for murder.

"He has presided over the highest cumulative rate of police fatal shootings ever seen in Jamaica …. It is time for him to go," said Gomes.

"We have seen three months in which more than one person a day was killed by the police, culminating in the killing of 36 persons by the police in the month of October," she added.

CONCERNED ABOUT EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

Gomes contended that too many shooting incidents involving the police smacked of extrajudicial killings.

"The failure to control the brutality of the men under his command, and the failure to reduce the rate of fatal police shootings by proper planning and control of operation are unacceptable," she said.

"We hear no new solutions for this unacceptable use of force by his men coming out of the commissioner. And his weekly bulletins to those he leads about human rights and the proper use of force are perfunctory," she added.

Gomes asserted that Ellington's failure to ensure accountability for the use of force by members of the JCF warrants his resignation.