JCF solving crime without filmed evidence, says Johnson Smith

FOR those clamouring for police to wear body cameras while on specialised operations where they are likely to be confronted by armed criminals, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith offered some advice.

“The fact that you seek to use this narrative that everything hinges somehow on body-worn cameras, look at the closure rate of our detectives in respect of murder — nobody gives them any filmed evidence,” she declared last Friday in the Senate as she closed the debate on the Cybercrimes Amendment Act 2026.

“Look at the cleared-up rate of the police and look at the cleared-up rate for Indecom [Independent Commission of Investigations] and ask the question, ‘How do the police solve crimes?’ They’re not given video evidence — they do good police work,” declared Johnson Smith who is also Leader of Government Business in the Senate.

“They investigate, they use forensics, and they do that to solve crime. Indecom can do that too without imperilling the safety and security of our constabulary,” added Johnson Smith.

She was responding to Opposition Senator Allan Bernard who, during his contribution to the debate, called for the establishment of a digital accountability framework that would include a statutory body-worn camera policy for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Bernard’s call was made against the background of a sharp rise in police fatal shootings, which has triggered a cascade of calls from civil society groups for the police to wear body cameras.

Last Friday the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches and Watchman Church Leaders Alliance added their voices, calling for the Government to provide a clear national position and timeline on the use of body-worn cameras, insisting it will increase transparency and accountability.

Bernard told the Senate that the Opposition, while supporting the cybercrimes Bill, insists that national security must be constitutional security.

“Public safety must be rights-based safety, and digital accountability must apply not only to the governed but also to those who are doing the governing — the police, their searches, their seizures, their arrests and, too oftentimes in Jamaica, the extrajudicial killings,” he remarked.

The Opposition senator pointed to figures released by Indecom which show that 115 people have been killed by the security forces in reported confrontations since January 1 this year. He noted that this far exceeds the 87 who were killed during the comparable period in 2025.

However, Johnson Smith believes the repeated calls for body-worn cameras bring the integrity of the men and women of the JCF into question.

The usually affable Johnson Smith at one point apologised for “raising my voice” but noted that it was necessary to do so sometimes as she stoutly defended the police and the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“It is the JLP, led by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, that has purchased body-worn cameras for the police,” she stated while noting that more have been procured.

“It is the JLP Administration which established Indecom, and has supported its establishment with budget and the resources that it needs.

“It is under this Administration that the trust and confidence in our police force has grown substantively because of the holistic approach that it has taken to community engagement, community policing, and ensuring that there is a holistic approach to the safety and security of the Jamaican people,” she said.

“A part of this requires trust and confidence in our constabulary,” she insisted.

The Senate leader pointed to the lowest murder figures on record in 32 years — which was achieved by the JCF in 2025 when 674 people were killed — and the fact that the police were on course to do even better this year.

Noting that Indecom continues to do its work without interference, Johnson Smith told Bernard, “to come and make broad emotive statements that seek to paint and criticise the police without warrant [is unacceptable]”.

“We note the high number of people killed by the police, and that is challenging. Clearly if you look at the number, on the face of it, it’s a concern,” she admitted.

“But you must also look at the number of exonerated policemen — the number of actual convictions that take place where those allegations are made,” she added.