Letter of the Day | A new dawn in policing must begin in Granville

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Former deputy police commissioner Mark Shields is right about one thing: due process matters. But due process must not become a sedative used to numb public outrage when the video itself raises urgent questions about the use of deadly force.

The public is not calling for mob justice. It is asking a simple question: where was the imminent threat to life that justified firing into the driver’s side of Latoya Bulgin’s vehicle?

A vehicle moving from a standstill does not automatically justify lethal force. Tension is not a death sentence. Confusion is not a licence to kill. Deadly force must be necessary, proportionate, and linked to an immediate threat of death or serious injury.

The CCTV footage has reopened deep wounds in Granville, a community still carrying the pain of the New Year’s Day police operation that claimed the life of four-year-old Romaine Bowman. It has not healed; it has been forced to grieve again.

Many Jamaicans are now asking: if there was no camera, what story would we have been told?

This is why Jamaica needs body cameras now. They are not anti-police; they are pro-truth. They protect honest officers, citizens, evidence, and democracy.

Mark Shields also admitted that the way Latoya Bulgin was handled after being shot “leaves much to be desired.” That is not a minor point. It speaks to training, command, humanity, and the culture of policing.

Leadership matters. Language matters. When political leaders dismiss body cameras or invoke phrases like “meet your maker,” policing begins to sound less like law enforcement and more like combat. That hardens attitudes, lowers restraint, and normalises force over accountability.

Granville is not defending criminality. It is defending the right to life, truth, and restraint. A community can reject gangs and still reject unlawful force.

Calm cannot mean silence. Due process must apply to the police as it does to everyone else.

Let this moment usher in a new architecture of accountability and public trust. Jamaica deserves a better way of policing.

O. Dave Allen