A fatal police shooting that claimed the life of 43-year-old Latoya “Buju” Bulgin in the Granville community of St James, Jamaica, has sparked urgent calls for systemic reform within the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), from one of the force’s most experienced retired leaders. With 42 years of decorated service under his belt, retired Senior Superintendent Steve McGregor has described the May 17 incident as deeply disturbing, and is pushing the national police service to overhaul its current approach to crime management and community policing, stressing that lethal force must only ever be used as a last resort in high-stakes encounters.
The incident that ignited this national debate unfolded when Bulgin was transporting people to a protest over the recent police killing of 17-year-old Tjey Edwards, when officers stopped her Toyota Voxy in the Granville community square. Released closed-circuit television footage shows an officer firing directly at Bulgin while she remained seated behind the steering wheel. After she was shot, officers pulled her from the vehicle legs-first, dragged her across the ground, and unceremoniously threw her into the bed of a police pickup truck, with officers struggling to close the vehicle’s tailgate after loading her. Official police accounts claim Bulgin threatened to drive over the officer who opened fire, and the case is currently under investigation by the country’s Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), the independent body tasked with probing law enforcement misconduct.
While McGregor has echoed widespread public frustration with the JCF’s pattern of deadly use of force, he is urging Jamaicans to avoid rushing to judgment and calling the involved officers murderers before all facts of the case come to light. He emphasized that justice cannot be built on raw emotion, and that full due process must be followed to uncover every detail surrounding the fatal encounter. In a public letter to the editor, McGregor noted that every loss of life at the hands of police should be a matter of national concern, requiring deliberate sensitivity, strict professionalism, and full accountability from law enforcement. He added that public trust in the JCF is already dangerously fragile, whether that trust gap is viewed as fair or unfounded, and rebuilding that public confidence must be treated as an urgent top priority for the force.
McGregor argued that professionalism must be strengthened at every rank of the JCF, calling for divisional commanders to engage with community members far more regularly through press briefings, town halls, and open community forums. He noted that citizens need structured spaces to ask questions, voice their long-held concerns, and gain a clearer understanding of the challenges that frontline officers face, pointing out that democratic policing operates by public consent: when the relationship between police and communities breaks down, effective policing becomes exponentially more difficult.
The veteran former officer also called for a renewed focus on ongoing training, direct supervision, structured mentorship, and intentional leadership development within the force. He raised concerns that younger officers today are not receiving the same high-quality preparation and guidance that veteran officers of his generation benefited from, noting that senior leaders once prioritized teaching not just law enforcement techniques, but also critical skills like exercising restraint, communicating with community members, and maintaining composure under extreme pressure. McGregor stressed that police cannot approach every interaction as a battle against crime; instead, the force must shift to a model of more intelligent, professional crime management that prioritizes de-escalation.
“Every part of an officer’s conduct matters: the language they use, their tone, their overall attitude. Respect and consistent professionalism can often defuse tense encounters before they escalate into violent confrontation,” McGregor said. “Sensitivity is especially critical when women are involved in an incident. Regardless of what this investigation concludes, a woman is dead, and that reality alone should remind all of us how serious this matter is.”
McGregor made clear he continues to stand behind the hardworking rank-and-file officers of the JCF, acknowledging the extraordinary danger and difficult conditions they work under every day. But he stressed that support for frontline officers cannot exist without simultaneous accountability for misconduct — the two principles are not mutually exclusive. Drawing on his decades of experience policing in Jamaica, he noted that he understands firsthand what it is like to work in a tense, often undisciplined society, never knowing if you will return home safely at the end of a shift. Even so, he emphasized, officers are specifically trained to handle these high-pressure encounters with professional restraint.
“We train officers in conflict management, tactical response, de-escalation, and the progressive use of force. Lethal force is designed to be the last resort, not the first option when an interaction begins,” he said.
McGregor also called for the Indecom investigation to proceed without social media trial-by-public-outcry or emotional hysteria. If criminal charges are warranted against any involved officer, he said, the case must be heard quickly and fairly in open court. But accountability should not end with the criminal probe, he added: if internal disciplinary breaches or operational failures are uncovered, the JCF must hold responsible parties accountable internally and be transparent with the public about what actions are taken.
Key questions need clear answers, McGregor argued: Was there adequate supervision for the operation? Were standard operating procedures followed from start to finish? Was appropriate medical care provided to Bulgin immediately after she was shot? The JCF must reassure the public that rules governing police conduct are enforced fairly and consistently, he said, noting that transparency and accountability are non-negotiable if the force hopes to rebuild fractured public trust. He also reiterated longstanding calls from civil society to mandate body-worn cameras for all frontline officers, pointing out that the devices protect officers from unfair assumptions and incomplete narratives while providing critical context, transparency, and accountability for investigations.
“Leadership at every level of the force must now step up to make difficult decisions, strengthen professional standards, improve training, and restore public confidence. If we are honest with ourselves, things are not working right now. We have to do better, my former colleagues. Jamaica deserves better from all of us,” he said.
Latest data from Indecom shows that 133 people have been fatally shot by Jamaican security forces so far this year, a slight increase from the 129 people killed in the same period last year, with 18 fatal shootings recorded in May alone. Crucially, Indecom has confirmed that none of the three officers assigned to crowd control duties at the protest Bulgin was traveling to were issued or wearing body-worn cameras the day of the shooting — a gap that has been a core point of criticism from Jamaican civil society organizations for years.
In response to the public outrage, Prime Minister Andrew Holness extended official condolences to Bulgin’s family, acknowledging that the incident has sparked widespread pain, anger, and deep concern across the country. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for the JCF’s 91st Staff & Junior Command Courses, Holness reminded new graduates that their core mandate is to preserve and protect human life, requiring them to rely on their training and professionalism to carry out all operations responsibly. The prime minister also issued a formal directive ordering the JCF to immediately review and reform its procedures for handling injured and deceased people at incident scenes, stressing that protecting and preserving human life must always be the force’s top priority.
For his part, JCF Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake addressed the growing national debate over police use of force in his recent *Commissioner’s Corner* public address, acknowledging the high-stakes nature of police decision-making. Blake noted that officers are often required to make split-second judgments under extreme pressure, with incomplete information, in rapidly changing dangerous situations. He stressed that while accountability is a core requirement of democratic policing, public assessments of officer actions must take into account the difficult operational conditions officers face, pointing out that critics often judge incidents with 20/20 hindsight that officers on the ground do not have.
Blake also emphasized the critical importance of rigorous ongoing training, consistent professionalism, emotional resilience, and principled leadership, arguing that all police decisions should be guided by ethics, evidence, and the public good. “We must learn not to become paralysed by criticism nor intoxicated by praise. Good decision-making is not the absence of criticism; rather, it is the disciplined pursuit of what is lawful, ethical, and necessary despite criticism,” Blake wrote. He added that the force must prioritize cultivating officers who can think clearly amid uncertainty, and leaders who can act decisively when under pressure. “The nation depends on our judgement every day. Let us, therefore, strive to ensure that our decisions — whether operational, tactical, or strategic — are grounded in professionalism and wisdom,” he said.
The shooting has already sparked two days of widespread public protests in Granville, with angry residents blocking major roads in the community and demanding accountability for Bulgin’s death, and a heavy police presence deployed to the area to respond to the unrest.
