HEAD of the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) Dr Lloyd Barnett yesterday poured cold water on a suggestion by a deportee that the Government monitor Jamaicans with criminal backgrounds who have been involuntarily sent back to the island.
Speaking to the Jamaica Observer by telephone, Dr Barnett, one of the country's foremost constitutional attorneys, said the Government cannot legally monitor deportees.
On Thursday, Charlie Brown, a Jamaican man who was deported from the United States 16 years ago, in an Observer article, insisted that the Government here accept responsibility for some of the crimes perpetrated by people involuntarily sent back to the country, following the shooting death of two policemen last week, allegedly by a deportee.
He also urged the Andrew Holness-led Administration to monitor those returning to the island with a criminal file, and suggested that last Friday's incident could have been prevented if the Government had a monitoring system in place for deportees with criminal backgrounds.
However, hours after the shooting deaths of the lawmen, Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson told journalists during a virtual press conference from Jamaica House that the Jamaica Constabulary Force cannot legally monitor deportees with criminal backgrounds.
