Police have shot and killed 21 people for the year so far. The killings, often registered as ?resistance followed by death? are under investigations, police say.
But reports of an elimination squad in the police service are surfacing, and Amnesty International spokesperson for the Caribbean, Piers Bannister, says the organisation views with alarm, the increasing numbers of people being killed by the police in T&T.
?There appears to be a trend for police officers to use firearms as a first, instead of a last resort,? he said in an e-mail interview.
And a legal source has pointed to the possibility that policemen are carrying out the killings to avoid taking alleged criminals to court, because they, the police, then lose the cases.
Bannister said the international law on this issue was clear: police have a right and a duty to use lethal force if their safety or the safety of others is threatened by anyone.
However, he said the police had no right to fire on anyone who did not represent a clear and identifiable threat.
?The authorities must ensure that every killing by police officers is fully and impartially investigated. Amnesty remains concerned that so few officers are tried.
He said it was imperative that the authorities ensured that the public had confidence in the system for investigating dubious killings by policemen.
Meanwhile, the legal source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the police seemed to be sending a very strong message: that they are fed up because the law protects the criminals.
Of the 19 people shot dead by the police for this year, the police have alleged that they were fired upon first.
The attorney also pointed out that innocent people may die during the sending of the message by the police, and that the police may even get latent support for their actions?that is, if the killings did not directly affect those who were giving such support.
?Except for the family members, the general public do not care when a bandit shoots and kills another bandit, so if the police offer to assist them achieve their goal, then what?s the big deal?? the lawyer asked.
In essence, it?s just another way being used by the police to solve the crime problem, he said.
?Rather than take the criminals to court and have a magistrate or judge grant bail to the criminals and have the police monitor them all the time, they (the police) have opted to shoot them down and perhaps plant the very illegal guns they have seized in so-called raids into their pockets?to justify their claim that they were shot at first,? the lawyer contended.
He said, too, that the police were very well aware who the criminals were, just that they did not have the evidence.
?Time and time again, police reports indicate that a ?group of men? were liming and masked or unmasked men approached them, then opened fire.
?In the end, one of the group members die, but the remainder often always never saw the perpetrators, or fled the scene just in the knick of time.
?Then, Crime Stoppers receives a call from an ?anonymous caller?, saying who really did the killing and then the tipsters are $10,000 richer.?
Police sources, meanwhile, commenting on this issue, said T&T society appears not to know what it wants.
?One minute they saying bring back the days of (Randolph) Burroughs, and the next they are complaining,? one senior officer said.
He said, though, that the police must be careful not to promote the perception that a death squad exists in the police service.
Another officer said policemen were not trained to shoot one?s arms and legs.
?During training, the target is a body and a head?no hands, legs or big toe,? the officer said.
?We don?t use words like ?shoot to kill,? but if we are fired upon there will be a return of fire,? he said. Police officers are unlikely to shoot to kill ?just so? because then they can be tried for murder, he said, adding that criminals were doing all the wrong and were getting off on technicalities.
