Backlog of probes into police-involved killings unacceptable

Police-involved killings, as reported in the Sunday Guardian, have averaged 40 annually over the last ten years, with a total of 443 deaths. This high number must be a major cause for concern. That quandary is deepened when the Police Complaints Authority, the body established by the State to investigate such deaths, reports that the “status of the investigations” into the majority of them remain “pending.”

Of interest are the PCA’s referral of 15 of the deaths to the Director of Public Prosecutions for the possibility of further police investigations to determine whether formal charges can be laid against officers.

What is not known is the length of time which has elapsed in a number of the investigations and the uncertainty over how long again before the reported “majority” of investigations will be brought to a satisfactory end one way or the other. Or is it that a number of those pending, or indeed all of them, have reached the end of the line of possible PCA investigation?

The killings are often reported by friends and relatives of those shot and killed as unwarranted and unlawful, but such conclusions may very well be self-serving and an attempt to protect their own.

On the other side of the story, the present Commissioner of Police and her predecessors, have consistently warned civilians not to take on officers in a firefight, which they are most likely to lose against officers trained and equipped to defend themselves and innocent citizens.

The issues relate to what have been and continue to be the causes for the PCA’s inability and/or failure to conclude the many pending investigations within a reasonable time.

What are the reasons behind the blockades which prevent the PCA from carrying out its investigations in a manner involving great efficiency and sagacity on the part of the investigators and their directors?

Is it an issue of the PCA having insufficient and inadequate investigative staff? Has it been that the police service, represented by the CoP and her/his senior staff, have been less than diligent and helpful in meeting the PCA’s requests for information and further investigation? This, of course, includes the use of body cameras and the provision of such video evidence to the PCA on request. Can it be that the police service does not have the kind of investigative capacity itself, in the instances when cases have been referred to it through the office of the Director of Public Prosecution? Or is it a matter of the police directorship protecting their own from investigation?

Whatever the set of reasons, the outcome at this point must be described as the inability of the PCA to effectively conclude its investigations and to instruct/advise the DPP, who can then direct the police to either investigate further or to charge accused officers; or to free such police officers from suspicion of taking the law into their own hands.

Alternatively, if the evidence points to police officers doing their duty responsibly and without an intent to unlawfully target persons for killing, the message can be sent without equivocation to criminals to end their attacks on police officers, or else be prepared to suffer the consequences.

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