Police Violence, Community Safety and Justice in Jamaica

Caribbean Labour Solidarity Sunday Zoom
From 2 – 4 pm, Sunday 5th July 2025
All welcome, but you will need to register in advace:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/GfNwSbcBR9euG7pTuMNYhw#/registration

Slain by Police: Mrs Latoya Bulgin
For many Jamaicans, Caribbeans and other colonised people, encounters with the police are too often characterised by fear rather than trust. Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS) invites you to join this important public discussion on the urgent need to transform policing in Jamaica into a service that protects communities, respects human rights and is fully accountable to the people.

The meeting follows the killing of Latoya “Buju” Bulgin, a 45 year old housewife of Granville, St. James on  May 17. Her fatal shooting, while in her car, by police officer Andrew Wilson, together with the disturbing images of her body being slung onto the back of a police vehicle, provoked widespread grief, anger and calls for justice across Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean diaspora. Whatever the outcome of the criminal proceedings now before the courts, the incident has highlighted deep public concerns about the use of lethal force, police accountability and respect for human dignity.

Local media reported that Ms Bulgin was organising a demonstration over the recent police killing of a 17-year-old boy, identified as her cousin when she was shot. No body camera was worn by constable Wilson.

The People’s National Party Women’s Movement said in a statement that CCTV footage “raises serious questions about the use of lethal force by members of the security forces.” They also said it was “disturbing” how Bulgin’s body was thrown into the back of a police vehicle after she was shot.

“This conduct falls below the respect that should be afforded to our citizens by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force,” the group said in a statement.

From 1st January to early June 2026 the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) reported 140 fatal police shootings for the year to date. As of 31st May 2026, 221 homicides had been recorded in Jamaica. This means that police killings amounted to roughly 63% of all recorded homicides during that period, an exceptionally high proportion by international standards.

Our discussion will examine the historical origins of policing in Jamaica. Much of the academic literature argues that the Jamaica Constabulary Force developed as an instrument of colonial control, designed to protect the interests of the colonial state, and latterly, the local ruling class, rather than the welfare of ordinary citizens.

We will also consider the proposition that colonial systems of policing weakened traditional community leadership and diminished the influence of women’s voices in local conflict resolution and community life—an important historical question that deserves careful examination.

CLS believes that lasting reform requires more than disciplinary action against individual officers such as officer Wilson. We shall discuss proposals for a comprehensive restructuring of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and its auxiliaries; the introduction of a default position of progressive replacement of routine armed policing with community-based policing; much stronger independent civilian oversight; greater emphasis on dialogue, mediation and neighbourhood engagement; mechanisms for resolving disputes within families & communities, and educational reforms that teach human rights, restorative justice, non-violent conflict resolution and democratic citizenship from an early age.

Paul G Ward, an Executive Committee member of CLS, long resident in Jamaica, will present the case that if Jamaica is to become a society where policing is based on consent rather than fear, meaningful reform must address both the lasting legacy carried over from kidnapping, slavery and the challenges of the present.

Steve Cushion, also an EC member of CLS and historian of Caribbean studies, will examine the origins of policing, SlaverPatrols, in the colonies of the British Empire and its current manifestation.

We invite everyone concerned with justice, democracy and the future of Jamaica to join this important conversation