'I stand with Dr Chang' - Robert Morgan backs security minister on 'shoot to kill'

Cabinet minister Robert Morgan has publicly supported National Security Minister, Dr Horace Chang, who has controversially urged members of the security forces to shoot to kill when confronted by gunmen.

The Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM, the State's oversight body and rights group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) have condemned the remarks from the Deputy Prime Minister. 

"I stand with Dr Chang and the Police," said Morgan, the minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for information.

"If a criminal confronts you using deadly force, protect your life and that of our citizens," he Tweeted on Friday. 

The Clarendon North Central MP also made reference to the murder of a mother and her four children in his constituency in June. 

"I can't forget when the Clarendon 5 were murdered some group was more interested in the fate of the confessed killer than the victims and their families," Morgan said, an apparent reference to JFJ's advocacy against the use of the death penalty in crime fighting. 

According to Chang, the police should kill their attackers, noting that the country was spending too much to treat criminals at public-health facilities.

Chang, who Jamaicans have rated the worst-performing Cabinet minister and have expressed little confidence in his ability to get the country's crime situation under control in recent RJRGLEANER polls, made the comments on Thursday as he broke ground for the construction of the new Frome Police Station in Westmoreland.

“Any time a man takes up a gun after a police officer, I expect Commissioner [Antony Anderson] to train them [so that] when him fire, he must not miss," he said, adding: “There may be fatal shootings because man shoots guns after them. I not telling any policeman not to fire back, and I said it here in Westmoreland. I am not sending any ambulance out there either."

“I don't want him to come give any trouble to the hospital. I am not in that business. You go to hospital, it cost us $10 million to save him life. I am not into that. When criminal see police come, he must surrender,” he said, driving home the point.

But INDECOM says all public officials should be guided by the Constitution of Jamaica in their statements and actions. "In any confrontation, the law gives primacy to the right to life, which is an inalienable constitutional right."

The oversight body also stressed that access to medical attention should be afforded to all persons in keeping with the State's obligation to safeguard life.

JFJ labelled Chang's statements as an "unfortunate stance" that could be "interpreted as a tacit approval of extrajudicial killings".

It said "such an order and instruction to the security forces as a means for cracking down on crime is not only irresponsible, but a clear violation of the right to life and security, as it could lead to further killings in the country while still not moving the country closer to addressing the high crime rate."

Chang's suggestions should be rejected by all Jamaicans, the group said. 

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