Judge calls for officers to use bodycams

A senior judge is pushing for Jamaica Constabulary Force officers to utilise the state provided body cameras to capture incidents of tension between members of the public.

"Why are people always recording you but you are not recording them? I'm not telling you to use your personal things to do the government work, but if you are doing the right thing, then record it," Senior Parish Judge Sanchia Burrell suggested to an investigating officer attached to the Specialised Operations branch, after an accused woman, Tamara Allen, claims police were telling lies on her.

Allen is charged on an indictment of being armed with an offensive weapon, failure to move and keep on moving, indecent language, abusive and calumnious language, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstructing police duties. It was shared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that a team of police officers was conducting operations within the Kingston Western division when they stopped and searched two persons aboard a bicycle. Allen, seeing the operations, began to shout, "Unnu video dis, unnu video dis," and behaved in a boisterous manner. Allen was warned by the police to refrain from boisterous behaviour and to move on from the area.

Allegations state that Allen continued using indecent language and said, "A ova Tivoli unnu fi guh, wasteman unnu be a trouble [expletive redacted] people."

Allen contends that she said nothing to the police but admitted to being in possession of a brown-handled knife.

"So you did not call the police a wasteman or use indecent language? You only use church lady language?" Burrell asked the accused.

"Is lie dem a tell, Your Honour," the 40-year-old woman maintained, as allegations were outlined.

"A me weed knife me did have, dem take set pon me, dem all a tell people nuh fi buy from me," Allen shared.

The matter was adjourned until November 27 for file completion. Allen was fined $3,000 or 10 days imprisonment for being in possession of a knife.