St. James councillors split over rising police fatal shootings

Tensions ran high at the St. James Municipal Corporation this week as councillors traded barbs over a sharp rise in fatal shootings involving the security forces in the parish since the start of the year.

Michael Troupe, who represents the Granville division, told the meeting he is troubled by cases in which, he believes, residents were killed after they had already surrendered. He said three people died at the hands of police in January alone, and pointed to the shooting of a 17-year-old boy earlier in the year. Troupe argued that even where someone was found with an illegal firearm, that person did not attack the police and, on the spot, pleaded for his life.

Charles Sinclair, councillor for the Montego Bay Northeast division, pushed back. He urged Troupe to exercise caution before making statements on the council floor without firm proof.

"I'm submitting to you: unless Councillor Troupe was there on the spot, we must not facilitate the use of this platform to be giving information which is hearsay and potentially false," Sinclair said. "You are not supposed to do that."

Sinclair said he was not trying to silence Troupe, but maintained that councillors should not use the municipal forum to advance accounts they cannot stand behind unless they were present as eyewitnesses. He added that anyone with direct knowledge should take that information to the investigating authorities or whoever is probing the matter.

The exchange underscored a wider split on how elected representatives in St. James should speak about police use of lethal force — between raising community alarm and guarding the integrity of public debate with verified facts.