Facing a wave of public backlash over the treatment of a woman shot by a cop and loaded into the back of a police pickup last Sunday, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has directed the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to urgently review and reform its procedures for dealing with injured and dead people at crime scenes, stressing that their first and foremost duty ought to be the preservation and protection of human life.

“It is a complex subject, because we don’t have emergency services that are available right away, but these are matters that need to be studied carefully. So I’m saying this now to the [police] high command, we will be discussing it at the National Security Council, that provisions have to be put in place and the necessary protocols have to be established about how you remove a deceased [person] from crime scenes or assist injured persons,” the prime minister declared in his address at the JCF’s graduation ceremony for the 91st Staff & Junior Command Courses on Friday at the National Police College of Jamaica in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

“We are trying to build an economy and a society, but more importantly we’re building a civilisation. How we treat our injured, most vulnerable, weakest amongst us, how we treat the remains of the deceased, tells us a lot about the kind of civilisation we are. And so, if the JCF is transforming, then that must be part of the transformation,” Holness said, adding that he intended to turn the matter into a Government-mandated policy.