THERE IS a curious divergence in the reactions of the security forces in the wake of the Tivoli operation last Tuesday. Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas defended the role of his policemen in a news conference; and a day later, the army chief, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, offered the JDF perspective in a separate press briefing.
On the face of it, the separate exercises lend support to critics who are sceptical of police and soldiers jointly exercising the security function. This is principally on the grounds that both agencies are trained differently: the police to maintain law and order, and the army to fight wars if the need arises. The difference is implied in the stipulation that soldiers in civil action simply support the police initiative; they have no police powers.
The Prime Minister has recently affirmed that the police and the army will not be merged as some persons advocate. Hence the joint operations as 'the security forces' will continue as they have done for several years. We think it is important, however, that the primacy of police action in these matters be preserved to activate the criminal justice system as breaches of the law are adjudicated in the courts.
Despite the difference in their separate roles, there is a common objective in so far as the extreme upsurge of violence threatens public order and safety, particularly in volatile communities. In that light, the commissioner's defence of the Tivoli operation included the fact that the primary objective of capturing suspects in the murders of three policemen last May was not achieved; but the collateral damage of gunshot woundings invited criticism of the whole enterprise with Tivoli Gardens as a special target.
The military objective, to give support to the police action, involved helicopters hovering above the area and presumably supplying visual intelligence of movements that could facilitate the police objective.
Rear Admiral Lewin told his press briefing that gunfire from the ground damaged a JDF helicopter last Tuesday. This, he disclosed, had happened on three previous occasions during operations over east Kingston (Mountain View) and in west Kingston. He warned that any such incident in the future would get a response.
While the army chief did not elaborate, we have to presume that the retaliation would come from the air thereby elevating community crisis to a whole new dimension. A response in kind would raise the prospect of a military solution for civil conflict. Such a prospect must be rejected by the civilian authorities which run things in this country.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
