KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s most prominent umbrella faith organization, the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches (JUGC), has publicly denounced what it describes as the shameful and dehumanizing mistreatment of Latoya Bulgin’s corpse by Jamaican law enforcement officers, following the woman’s fatal shooting by police over the weekend.
In an official public statement released Monday, the interdenominational coalition confirmed it was deeply distressed by the killing, which unfolded in the Granville community of St James parish this past Sunday. The group’s statement draws heavily on widely circulated security camera footage of the incident that has spread across social media and local online platforms in recent days.
“What the circulating footage appears to capture goes far beyond a simple breakdown of standard police procedure. What we see is a desecration of a human life. Every person is created in the image of God, and no one deserves to be treated in this way,” the JUGC governing council stated.
The coalition acknowledged that the officer implicated in the incident has already been placed on interdiction, and that Jamaica’s Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), the country’s independent police oversight body, has launched a formal probe into the shooting and subsequent handling of Bulgin’s body. Even with these initial steps, the group stressed that the Jamaican public is owed a full, trust-building investigation that addresses all outstanding critical questions and delivers meaningful accountability for the life that was lost.
Citing a passage from the biblical book of Amos 5:24 — which calls for justice to “roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” — the organization noted the verse is not only a source of comfort for those grieving, but a mandate to hold powerful institutions to account.
“Peace and justice cannot be separated, particularly here in Granville, where community calm is already fragile. We cannot accept a return to quiet that comes at the cost of ignoring the truth,” the statement read. The JUGC also pointed to the publicly circulating CCTV footage as clear proof of the urgent need for mandatory body-worn cameras for all Jamaican police officers. While the group acknowledged recent comments from the police commissioner about ongoing progress on rolling out the technology, it emphasized that the current moment demands a public, clear implementation timeline, binding accountability mechanisms, and measurable progress to deliver on the policy.
The coalition also voiced deep, growing alarm over the steady rise in fatal police shootings across Jamaica in recent months. It stressed that all Jamaican citizens deserve full confidence that officers sworn to serve and protect the public consistently exercise restraint, disciplinary control, and every possible effort to preserve human life in the line of duty.
“We are calling on churches, local community leaders, ordinary residents, and public officials across the country to collaborate to uphold the value of life, maintain equal rule of law, and deliver justice for every Jamaican,” the group said.
It also issued a direct call to Prime Minister Andrew Holness to address the nation clearly, and give a public guarantee that allegations of unlawful killings and excessive force by state agents will not be normalized, excused, or buried to avoid scrutiny.
Closing its statement, the coalition reaffirmed its commitment to seeing the process through: “The Church is watching, and we will not rest until we get answers that deliver full justice and complete transparency for this incident.”