National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang is unapologetic regarding his statement that the police should shoot to kill when confronted by armed criminals.
Last Friday, Chang repeated a position he had outlined in September last year when he again expressed support for police officers who kill criminals attempting to shoot at them.
“The police are professionals on the road doing a routine job, and you can only imagine the kind of mentality that would make a man ride up on a bike and look at a young Jamaican doing his duty and try to kill him.
“I say to the police here that: ‘Anyone who does that or attempt to do that, the only time they should have left on this side of the surface is the time it takes to do the post-mortem,’ Chang told last weekend’s Lasco/JCF Saluting Our Heroes awards ceremony.
“Put them away; they have no place in society,” he said, telling the police to make sure they follow standard operating procedures “all the time” by making contact, and taking adequate cover during combat with criminals.
In September last year Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and other human rights groups blasted Chang for his statement and on Tuesday, appearing on a radio programme here told listeners that the use of a firearm is a deadly force.
“The normal firearm when loaded carries a missile that is designed to kill. So saying shoot to kill is rhetorical. Once you shoot the intention is to kill. And if you have a bikeman riding past and shooting at people, I have trained the police and I trained well, they must shoot,” he said.
Chang said that any suggestion that this directive will create a case for aggression and the violation of rights is ridiculous, arguing that if he or anyone else were to encourage the police otherwise, it would almost be equal to sedition.
“People who are riding on bikes modify the firearms to shoot automatic. So they’re going to empty that 18 clip in less than 10 seconds on too many individuals. And [police] must start thinking about where can I shoot, at the foot, can I shoot at the thigh, can I shoot this? Now come on now,” Chang told listeners to the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.
But JCJ reiterated its position that Chang’s shoot to kill comment could damage the relationship between communities and the police.
JCJ executive director, Carla Gullotta said a rise in police fatal shootings could upend the gains of community policing because residents may not be inclined to communicate or cooperate with cops to solve crime.
“[It puts] the police officers at risk because if the police officers are not welcome in the area, what Minister Chang mentioned that they have to shoot because somebody shoots them will happen. So I think that is really unfortunate,” she told the radio programme earlier.
