It is with some concern that I view the statement attributed to the Commissioner of Police in Friday's newspapers. The Commissioner has ordered his officers to arrest and charge any soldier found committing an offence; this in response to questions posed to him by journalists about the legality of soldiers patrolling Laventille, without policemen in attendance.The Commissioner went further to state that neither he nor the Chief of Defence Staff has ordered the patrols which are being undertaken by the soldiers.
If the soldiers are in fact patrolling, it would be interesting to know: who ordered the patrols?It follows that if the Commissioner did not request the patrols and the Chief of Defence Staff did not order them, then the patrols are in fact illegal under the law and as the Commissioner has stated, they should be arrested.This is a recipe for chaos and/or confrontation between police and soldiers, something we have worked hard over the years at "arresting."
It should also to be noted by the military that superior orders are not a defence to an obviously illegal order. The Chief of Defence Staff is under no obligation to carry out an illegal order. The situation is more complex than this. I am certain within my mind that the Regiment, notwithstanding the loss by murder of one of its men, would not venture into Laventille without someone ordering it. The question therefore is: who ordered it?
The time has come for the Prime Minister as Head of the National Security Council to call a halt to the confusion by calling in the Commissioner of Police, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Minister of National Security and thrash out this matter once and for all. In the meantime, the Regiment should recall all its soldiers back into barracks until this matter is sorted out.
Ralph N Brown
Major General (retired)