PCA: We learn of police shootings through the news

The Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty (PCA), tasked with in­de­pen­dent­ly scru­ti­n­is­ing po­lice shoot­ings, says it is of­ten learn­ing of the in­ci­dents through the news rather than re­ceiv­ing the re­ports it is legal­ly re­quired to get from of­fi­cials.

It says the com­mu­ni­ca­tion break­down is so se­ri­ous that the PCA warns its own records may not even show the true num­ber of po­lice shoot­ings in Trinidad and To­ba­go — mean­ing some cas­es may nev­er reach the PCA un­less they be­come pub­lic.

In writ­ten re­spons­es to Guardian Me­dia, the PCA said: “With few ex­cep­tions, the Au­thor­i­ty be­comes aware of po­lice in­volved shoot­ings via me­dia re­ports, not from di­rect re­ports from the per­sons charged with the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to in­form the Au­thor­i­ty.”