- RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin (centre), Colonel Stewart Saunders (left) and Legal Adviser, Major Patrick Cole conclude a press conference at Up Park Camp yesterday. The Chief of Staff updated the media on the joint/police military operation which took place in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston on Tuesday.
Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
FUTURE FIRING by criminals at hovering Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) helicopters could soon be met with overwhelming force.
JDF Chief-of-Staff Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin said yesterday that army personnel will not become sitting ducks in carrying out their duties.
Speaking at a press conference at the JDF Air Wing, Up Park Camp, following Tuesday's operation in Tivoli Gardens in which an army helicopter was hit by bullets, Rear Admiral Lewin said persons who fire at JDF helicopters would now do so at their own peril.
"We have a response which under appropriate circumstances will make firing at our helicopters a risky undertaking for those so engaged," he warned, without specifying the type of response. "When that response comes, I want the public to be aware of what occasioned it."
TRENDS
Until recently, firing from a JDF helicopter was disallowed and the Rear Admiral refused to declare yesterday whether this policy would be revoked in light of recent trends.
On Tuesday, gunmen in Tivoli Gardens fired at a JDF helicopter, damaging the main rotor blade. This is the fourth time in the last five years that gunmen have fired at and damaged JDF helicopters. The first two such incidents occurred in the People's National Party (PNP)-controlled east Kingston constituency.
Speaking yesterday at a graduation ceremony at the Caribbean Regional Drug Law Enforcement Centre in Twickenham Park, St. Catherine, National Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips also condemned the frequent firing at the security forces.
The minister said the society expects the security forces to carry out their duties lawfully while respecting citizens' rights.
"If the security forces breach these rights, they deserve our censure and condemnation," Dr. Phillips said. "Equally however, we must condemn criminals when they attack the police, and all our leaders in the society should not by their utterances or actions, fail in their civic duty to assist the police in the apprehension of criminals."
Rear Admiral Lewin yesterday described Tivoli Gardens as the " mother of all garrisons".
He said this was because of the community's ability, among other things, to attack low-level security forces and to co-ordinate criminal activities with other similarly aligned communities, having well-armed and violent gunmen.
THE MOTHER OF ALL GARRISONS
"You can deny it as much as you can, you can rationalise it as much as you want," the top JDF soldier said. "Tivoli represents the mother of all garrisons. The garrison machinery is well-oiled, super effective and must be the envy of all others."
"In other garrisons, gunmen will engage the security forces and run," he stated, noting that his intention was not to sully that community's image.
"I have not demonised Tivoli Gardens," he said. "It is the criminal elements who prey on that community who had done a good job of that themselves," he said.
