National security operations including patrols by the army and police in Laventille and environs will continue and may even intensify. So said National Security Minister Gary Griffith in a statement in the House of Representatives, in the wake of media reports in which residents have claimed brutality by soldiers operating on patrols without any police presence. On Wednesday, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams was critical of the soldiers’ actions in patrolling on their own.
But Griffith did not agree, saying the patrols were part of an overall operation in the area. “What is presently being conducted in Laventille and environs is a planned, approved operation that involves patrols and other mechanisms of law enforcement that involves the T&T Police Service,” he explained. “It does not mean that every police officer must be next to a soldier and hold his hand in the operation.
“So the Defence Force work in tandem with the police in the operation but they can be on patrol without a police officer being next to them.” He said both Williams and Chief of Defence Staff Major Gen Kenrick Maharaj had said they would support all legal and approved operations and events involving the Defence Force and Police Service.
“They caution members of both units that any individual or group of individuals found to be involved in any unauthorised activity would be treated with the full brunt of the laws that govern both units,” Griffith added. He said Maharaj “reiterates that it is not illegal for members of the Defence Force to conduct patrols without a member of the Police Service being present as the area of operation for the regiment is the geographical confines of T&T.”
Griffith also said Williams had expressed his “full support” for the Defence Force patrols in Laventille and environs. “This type of support given to the police by the Defence Force is an ongoing effort and the combined operations of the agencies will serve to the betterment of the nation,” he said, adding that there had been “significant success in numerous operations far and wide across the national landscape.”
He said the news reports on the patrols in the area were done “in an effort to tarnish the image of the Defence Force and cause the public to question and doubt the reason of their presence. They have commenced a form of mind games or a level of psychological warfare in that neither the Chief of Defence Staff nor the Commissioner of Police have received any reports of wrongdoing by the soldiers.”
He said it was only a handful of people who were calling the media to publish those reports, and the newspaper headlines were based on allegation, perception, old talk and not facts. Griffith told legislators the “detractors” who were critical of the operations and patrols In Laventille “are those who may appear to be in some aspect of illegal activity or those who are associated with criminal elements.”
He said the majority of comments received were positive about the role being performed by the Defence Force. Because of the patrols, he said, “For the first time in years children are playing on courts late at nights in these areas. Mothers are walking the streets in peace with their children, not fearing a stray bullet entering their homes.” He said that “a few people run to the media in order to have pressure put on the army.”
But he insisted, “The soldiers will remain there until the area is brought under control. It might be intensified, but with the support of the Police Service.” It was unfortunate that soldiers were taking a berating from the people of this country, he commented, even after what they did in the July 1990 attempted coup.
Griffith said a soldier was killed “because he put his hand on a Bible to guard and defend our country, no other reason. His colleagues have rallied to the call to ensure that this is unacceptable, just like anywhere else in the world.” This was a reference to the murder of Lance Cpl Kayode Thomas in Laventille last month.
In New York, when a police officer was killed, said Griffith, his colleagues “don’t go and hold hands and sing with the criminals. They make their presence felt and they stay within the law. We intend to do the same thing.” He said soldiers risked their lives in defence of citizens “and now they are getting a slap in the face and we are telling them to use citizens’ arrest.”
While soldiers have to return their weapons at the end of a work day, the criminals keep their guns at home, he said. He called on citizens to support the soldiers as they continued to defend the nation against criminals. If any soldier or police officer broke the law he would face the full brunt of the law, he said. Asked about Griffith’s statement, acting CoP Williams said, “No comment.”