Retired Maj Gen Ralph Brown says that if the soldier patrols are not commissioned by the Chief of Defence Staff, Kenrick Maharaj, then they are indeed illegal. He said until the matter of who ordered the regiment patrols was sorted out, the soldiers should return to base.
Brown described the situation as “complex,” as he does not believe that the regiment would enter Laventille without being ordered to do so. He called on the Prime Minister, as head of the National Security Council, to “call a halt to the confusion” by calling in Acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, National Security Minister Gary Griffith and the Chief of Defence Staff on the matter. In a letter to the media yesterday, Brown said he was concerned that Williams said police officers would arrest and charge rogue 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,” he said. Brown noted that the situation was a “recipe for chaos and or confrontation” between police and soldiers, “something we have worked hard over the years at arresting.”