Peter Espeut | Who is telling lies, commissioner?

I do not have access to the Jamaica Constabulary Force Orders; my only knowledge of their contents is whatever is reported in this newspaper. And I have no reason to disbelieve the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

In an article published two days ago on the website of The Gleaner datelined Wednesday January 21, at 6:40pm, the writer states: “Police Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake says he may need to shed diplomacy to directly call out ‘lies’ surrounding claims that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has delayed the rollout of body-worn cameras”.

Dr. Blake is quoted: “Many times I try to be diplomatic and kind; but colleagues, I probably need to be more direct when calling out lies”.

We are told that the Commissioner’s comments are contained in a recent edition of the Constabulary Force Orders.

Well, are the body-worn cameras rolled-out or not? Commissioner Blake says “Yes!” The Gleaner reported two days ago:

“Blake said that in September last year he publicly explained that the JCF was ‘at the advanced stage of procuring 1,000 cameras’, which arrived ‘approximately 2 weeks after’. He said those cameras have since been deployed and that the JCF is now ‘in procurement for an additional 1,000 cameras’.” That is pretty clear!

But a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) Press release last month (dated December 10, 2025) states: “Cabinet has approved the procurement of more than 1,000 body worn cameras for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, made the disclosure in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (December 9). Dr. Holness noted that this procurement is the first in a series, with additional body worn cameras to follow”.

FIRST BATCH

Dr. Blake says the first batch arrived in September/October 2025 and have been deployed, with a second batch in procurement; in December Dr. Holness announces approval for the first in a series of camera procurement. Can both statements be true? If the cameras had arrived and been deployed, would the PM not have said so?

In December 2025 PM Holness is reported as saying, and I quote verbatim from the JIS release: “Just to be clear to the public, there sometimes seems to be the view that you can go into a store [purchase] a camera and [attach it to] a police [officer’s] chest. These matters [in reality]… require an ecosystem to work. So it’s not just [about] cameras [but also] storage and archival [systems] for retrieval [which must] be up to a certain standard so that what is stored reaches evidentiary levels,” he explained.

“There has to be a system of how these cameras are maintained, should there be failure. Then there is the whole business of putting in place the fibre-optic connections, because where you download the footage is not where you’re going to store it. So it has to be transmitted, and you have to make sure that you have that connection. So, there’s a lot to be built out before you can deploy body-worn cameras”.

In the same JIS release PM Holness “be assured that the buildout is under way and that the JCF will be equipped with sufficient body worn cameras to ensure transparency and accountability in police citizen interactions”.

So is PM Holness stating in December that the body-worn cameras are not yet deployed because the “ecosystem” is not yet in place?

Who is Commissioner Blake calling a liar?

The Gleaner reported two days ago that Commissioner Blake said: “Yet, persons continue to feed to the public the lies that we have said that we are awaiting the infrastructure.”

Get your story straight!

WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?

Which of the two good doctors do you believe?

To which policemen have the 1,000 body-worn cameras which arrived in September/October last year been deployed? For a fact, the police formations involved in Planned Police Operations (PPOs) are not equipped with body-worn cameras. Maybe the brave officers arresting market women, doing traffic stops, and investigating domestic violence have them – if in fact they have been deployed at all!

The clamour is for the police on PPOs to have them. Some footage shot by the public seems to show the police shooting persons with their hands in the air, and the police have no footage to back up their stories of shootouts and persons pointing guns at squads of armed policemen. I would have thought the Commissioner would deploy some of the first 1,000 cameras to squaddies on the PPOs to counteract the accusations that the police are conducting extra-judicial killings; but the police seem in no hurry to vindicate themselves.

For more than a year the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) has been among the most vocal proponents for the cameras to be deployed and activated during PPOs. It has argued that PPOs account for a significant share of fatal encounters involving security forces.

I ask you to decide whether the police have been dragging their feet on the matter of body-worn cameras. Let me quote from a JIS Press Release dated June 5, 2020 (Yes 2020! More than five years ago! It is not a misprint!)

“The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is engaged in the procurement process to acquire body-worn cameras for its members as it continues to ensure transparency and professionalism in interactions involving its members and the public.

“A body-worn camera is a wearable audio, video, or photographic recording system used to document images of activities.

“Providing an update at a digital press briefing, today (June 4), Commissioner of Police, Major General Antony Anderson, said the procurement process began in May last year; however, there was a delay in receiving response from potential providers during the bidding process”.

So the process began in 2019, and according to the Prime Minister the cameras are not yet deployed.

Is that delay, or not? Or is it procurement inefficiency, or incompetence?

In the meantime, the high level of police killings continue. The Trumpish behaviour continues. Who is aping whom?

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com