Jamaican army officer defends military involvement in crime fighting

Aug 14, 2008 News

---

A Jamaican military officer has defended the use of the military in domestic crime fighting operations.
Lieutenant Colonel Garfield Prendergast, commanding officer of the first battalion of the Jamaica regiment, told the US and Guyana Civil-Military Relations Seminar that this initiative has been proven successful in his country’s fight against crime.
During his presentation yesterday at the Grand Coastal Inn, Lt Col. Prendergast explained that military involvement in law enforcement duties is not new in his country since it dates back several decades, especially in volatile areas during elections on the island.
“We are still in a support role (to the police). We do not have the powers of arrest,” he said.
He said that in Jamaica the role of the military in crime fighting is significant since the organization is seen as apolitical as against the public perception of the police force.
“Public perception of the police is a problem. The JDF (Jamaica Defence Force) is more acceptable,” he explained.
Many support the view that a similar situation exists in Guyana where there is a general lack of trust for the Guyana Police Force.
A typical example was manifested when the army was called out to secure the Buxton area where criminals who were targeting members of the police force were hiding out.
According to Lt. Col. Prendergast, the Jamaican administration recently appointed a former military officer to head its police force.
And while there was some apprehension to the move, the public acceptance was almost overwhelming.
For one, it led to a decline in corruption within the force.
Lt. Col. Prendergast disclosed that only recently a Senior Superintendent of the police force was caught in a sting operation.
“We are charting new ground,” he said.
He revealed that many of the controversial police crime fighters have been taken off the streets and British officers who were hired by the Jamaican authorities are in positions that will stamp out corruption.      
But there were suggestions that the military should only be used in a shock-and-awe mode, and they should be retained if there is the need to persist with them to do law enforcement work.
Lt. Col. Prendergast admitted that the military will prefer not to do law enforcement work but the need to support the police in battling rising violent criminal activities was the overriding factor of their involvement.
“The police do not have the confidence of the people. We try to restrict our involvement to critical and volatile areas. We do more intelligence-type missions.”
Prendergast added that with the new role for the military, ranks are now being trained in security operations.
He revealed that Jamaica has the highest murder rate per capita in the western hemisphere and the country has taken a bold initiative to grapple with the phenomenon, which has the potential to devastate the tourism industry of the dependent Caribbean region.
He pointed to the development of a national security plan which was launched in 2004 and was presented to the nation in December 2005.
He noted that while the plan is a work in progress, there have been some benefits already accruing from the implementation of a number of important aspects.
According to Prendergast, the strategy could not be successful with only the involvement of the military alone.
To this end, the promoters of the strategy sought a national guide to move the process forward, which was then presented to the cabinet to establish a national strategic approach to tackling the problem.
He outlined several steps that were taken by his government which include the analyzing and prioritizing of current and future threats.
And since Jamaica has a problem with the rule of law, especially with the emergence of several high profile gangs, such analysis and prioritising played an integral part in the formation of the strategy.
Determining the national capabilities and determining lead responsibility for delivering each capability, taking the views of a wide cross-section of stakeholders was also high on the agenda for the plan.
Guyana has its own citizens’ security plan, but there are concerns that some of the recommendations are not being approached with the level of priority they deserve.
There were also several reports for security reforms that are still awaiting their day of implementation.
Lt. Col. Prendergast emphasized that to support such a programme, external support was extremely useful. Early consultation with the opposition and the involvement of civil society were also integral to the success of the programme.
“There were significant consultations from every sector to develop our national security strategy and after three years we have our plan up and running,” Lt. Col. Prendergast told the conference.
“When people talk about crime, they say it’s other people’s problems…like the police and the government. But a nation’s security is everybody’s business,” he added.
However, he warned that for the plan to work successfully, those who are put in charge must be held accountable.
Already the Jamaican government has strengthened the security forces’ intelligence capabilities, restructured the Defence Headquarters, given permission for additional units of the military, and increased the manpower to deal with challenges.
Significantly, since the plan involved all stakeholders in the process, although there is a new administration, the status quo is still being maintained.
“The opposition was involved in the initial process that is why they (now in government) are continuing with it. A valiant effort was made to include civil society.
During Lt. Col. Prendergast’s presentation it was the feeling of participants that Guyana has gone in the opposite direction.
Overall criminal activity is down in Jamaica although its murder rate remains high.
This is mainly as a result of feuding gangs which are prevalent on the island.
According to Lt. Col. Prendergast, targeting the ‘Dons’ has led to much of the recent successes of the security forces in Jamaica.
Already at least seven gang leaders have been extradited from Jamaica to face trial, mainly in the United States of America.
“Because these ‘Dons’ were taken out, we had a significant drop in certain crimes,” Lt. Col Prendergast contended.
While Guyana is not faced with a gang problem, many believe that the relatively high level of criminal activity stems from the operations of the drug trade.
And while some of the alleged drug lords are being prosecuted in the United States, there is the feeling that the local law enforcement agencies are doing little here to apprehend them.
The organisers of the seminar hope that the Jamaican experience will in some way find favour with the local stakeholders with a view to adopting some of the strategies that will be applicable to Guyana.    

---

---