Please publish this as an open letter to the commissioner of police.

Dear Commissioner of Police,

Police brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer.

I often wonder about the training which recruits receive. As a concerned and hopeful Jamaican I yearn for change, but to my dismay things just keep on getting worse and worse.

On March 25, I saw the television newscasts of three policemen being injured in a shoot-out with a man who was hiding on the premises of a popular entertainer, in St Andrew. The policemen were injured and the gunman was shot dead.

I'm sure the police were on high alert and rightly so in the immediate aftermath. However, the episode which shortly followed defines precisely the police's attitude and behaviour towards the Jamaican people. A man arrives upon the scene and was confronted by a policewoman. His belligerent action sets off a screaming match between himself and the woman. A number of male officers proceed to slap the man across his head and face using their hands and batons.

Signal to the public

Commissioner, what signal did the police's behaviour send to Jamaica and the rest of the world, the children of our land to everyone watching the news?

Is this how we treat our citizens? Are we still wondering why people don't trust the police? Can we believe the story put forth by the police about what actually happened after seeing their reaction played out on TV for the world to see? What if there were no television cameras and people around? What then? Would there be two dead "gunmen and two firearms sized"?

I am not a law enforcement officer, but it seems to me the persons involved could have easily handcuffed the man and remove him away before the situation escalated.

Please clean up your force Mr Commissioner; we simply cannot take much more of this.

I am, etc.,

T. ANDERSON

St James