April 23, 2001
 

JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY 

 The Gleaner reports on JUAPB activities -   4/23/2001

FOREIGN pressure over last month's killing of seven young men in Braeton, St. Catherine, is mounting.

The New York-based civil liberties group, called Jamaicans United Against Police Brutality (JUAPB), is continuing its picket of the Jamaican Consulatein New York and The Economist magazine has, under the headline "Killer cops",
reported on the issue, accusing local police of having a quick trigger finger.

"In a violent society, police may sometimes have to shoot. But in Jamaica, they seem to do so too readily and unconstrained by effective sanction," the magazine reported in its April 14 issue.

The Economist is among the best selling business magazines in Europe and has a circulation of millions worldwide.

Meanwhile, JUAPB has, over the past month, been protesting against the March 14 shooting deaths of the seven young men by the police.

"We picket (using five persons) outside the Jamaican Consulate for several hours, with placards and we hand out flyers to passers-by and to Jamaicans and others going into the Jamaican Consulate," said Lloyd D'Aguilar, JUAPB
co-ordinator, last week.

"We estimate that at each activity we may hand out close to 1,000 flyers."

"We also encourage people to call the Consulate to express their outrage at police killings and, in particular, at what happened in Braeton.

Concerned

JUAPB was formed at the beginning of last year by Jamaicans living in New York who said they are concerned about Jamaican police brutality and police extra-judicial killings. The group is comprised mostly of Jamaicans, but also has members from other Caribbean islands and the U.S.

Asked how long the group intended to keep up the pressure, Mr. D'Aguilar responded: "This is an ongoing struggle and though tactics may change we are determined not to rest until there is positive change in how the police
conduct itself and how it treats the people. The work has just begun."

According to Mr. D'Aguilar, the group's agitation has already begun to raise eyebrows, especially in the African American and Third World communities in New York.

"African Americans have begun to develop an interest in Jamaica and given their concern about police brutality in the United States, this concern will naturally be extended to Jamaica," he said. "Plus there are reports from time
to time in the black and Caribbean press. We are confident that there is a vast reservoir of support for what we are doing."

According to the police, just after 4:30 a.m. on March 14, members of the Crime Management Unit went to a house in Braeton, Portmore, St. Catherine. The lawmen said although they identified themselves as police and asked the
occupants to open the door, they were greeted with heavy gunfire. They said they returned the fire and the men were shot. The police said they found four firearms, one of which belonged to a cop who was slain by gunmen. However, eyewitnesses have disputed their story. 

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