Mark Shields (police officer)

On the basis of his earlier role in bringing the Adams case to trial, Shields was assigned on secondment to the Jamaica Constabulary Force in 2005.[1][2] He was one of a number of foreign police officers recruited for the JCF in those years, the others being fellow Britons Les Green and Justice Felice, and Canadian Paul Martin. Among the aims of the recruitment exercise were to augment the force's capabilities for intelligence activities and investigation.[8] With his appointment, the Jamaican and British police would better co-ordinate their efforts over the gang- and drug-related violence affecting both countries.[9][10]

Shields introduced a number of procedural and technological reforms in the JCF which were credited with increasing the arrest and conviction rate, including systematic digitisation of fingerprints taken from arrested suspects, increased introduction of closed-circuit television cameras, and further use of DNA evidence. From 2005 to 2006, the number of murders in Jamaica fell by 20 percent, from 1,680 to 1,340.[6] He also stressed getting the community involved through neighbourhood watch programs and independent advisory groups who would liaise with the police and build trust between the two groups. There was some concern over whether British policing methods would be effective in the different culture and situation of Jamaica. Shields described Jamaica as presenting different challenges than his native Britain, noting that while the crime rate was higher in Jamaica, there were far fewer people committing those crimes; in simple words, his solution was "to target the gunmen". He also sought to fight corruption in the JCF.[1]

Shields earned respect for the personal risk he took in combating deep-set corruption and violence, and for his perceived honesty.[6] He had initially been worried that he would be seen as a "colonialist" as a white man going into a black community in an authority position, but his fears about public perceptions of his role turned out to be unfounded.[2] As for his relations with the rest of the JCF, his position was newly created for his arrival, meaning that he was not blocking anyone else's chances for promotion.[1] However, local colleagues complained that Shields often took the lead in high-profile investigations as a means of garnering media attention.[11] His tenure was also marked by conflict with then-Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding over policing in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston.[2]

Shields was brought into the international spotlight by his investigation into the March 2007 death of the Pakistan Cricket Coach, Bob Woolmer. At the time, hundreds of journalists were in the West Indies to cover the Cricket World Cup, making the media response to the murder immediate and intense. Their interest increased once Shields announced a pathologist's findings that Woolmer's death was caused by manual strangulation. Shields held frequent updates in the lobby of Jamaica Pegasus Hotel where Woolmer's body was found, and himself became the focus of media attention – too much, his detractors claimed.

Shields also expressed frustration with the media's pressure for immediate answers and a rapid arrest, and their insinuations that the death was an inside job by someone from the Pakistani team, speculation which Shields rejected. Shields turned to his old Scotland Yard colleagues to review the investigation as he was not convinced of Dr Ere Seshiah, the pathologist's determination that Woolmer had been strangled. Shields ordered a re-examination of Woolmer's body and the recovery of the hyoid bone, which Seshiah believed was broken, indicating that Woolmer had been strangled.

Shields engaged the services of three internationally recognised forensic pathologists, Professor Lorna Martin Cape Town, South Africa, Michael Pollanen in Canada and top Home Office pathologist, Nat Carey in the UK. They independently agreed that Wooler had died of natural causes, completely discrediting the claims made by Seshiah. Based on this work and with the full support of the Woolmer family, their investigation reached a startlingly different result: they stated that Woolmer had died of a heart attack.[12]

In late November, after 26 days of testimony from 57 witnesses, the 11-member jury convened to conduct the inquest into Woolmer's death concluded that there was insufficient evidence to return a verdict on its cause. Shields then announced that the JCF did not intend to pursue further investigation.[13]