Pussyfooting
Editorial
Stabroek News
March 30, 2003
The army has come under increasing criticism for its apparent ineffectualness in arresting crime on the lower East Coast, most recently following the kidnapping of a Trinidadian national from the Annandale sideline dam on Thursday. Prior to that there was the foiled abduction of a child from the Strathspey Primary School, where the residents complained that a GDF patrol had not chased the would-be kidnappers down the school road, even although it had been told that that was the route they were using to escape. Subsequently parents and children from the village demonstrated against the army (among other things), bearing placards telling the soldiers to leave the area, but asking the police to stay.
These incidents, however, do not represent the first time that the GDF has been the subject of censure for its role in the fight against crime. Its own Commander-in-Chief, in an extraordinary outburst some time ago had excoriated the army publicly for failing in its duty where crime was concerned. However, that did not prevent him from increasing the number of army patrols following revelations in this newspaper about the reign of terror to which the residents of Annandale and other frontline villages were subject on an almost weekly basis, and the publication of a photograph showing a line of abandoned homes in South Vigilance.
At the same time as the patrols were increased, the main bridges out of Buxton/Friendship were blockaded, partially quarantining those two villages from the neighbouring communities. The residents of Annandale told this newspaper that this, together with the augmented army patrols, had alleviated the situation somewhat as far as they were concerned, although it had not eliminated the problem.
And now we have these latest kidnapping incidents, and the renewed allegations that the soldiers are doing nothing, and even that they are tacitly, at least, condoning the criminal acts committed by elements in Buxton. The criticism in the case of the Strathspey abduction, which was foiled, probably arises from a misunderstanding on the part of the residents as to what it was that the patrol was trying to do. On that occasion the soldiers were working with the police, and this newspaper was told that the arrangement was that the police were to chase the bandits down the school road, and the army was to attempt to cut off their retreat by driving down another street. However, since the soldiers arrived ahead of the police, the residents erroneously assumed that they were refusing to go after the kidnappers.
The circumstances surrounding the kidnapping of Trinidadian engineer, Mr Kenrick Baboolal, raises larger questions, however, about the role of the GDF in the anti-crime campaign along the lower East Coast. The army patrol, which an eyewitness estimated was about 60 metres away from the workers must have seen the 15 armed youngsters robbing the men, but while the military personnel might have apprehended them after they had finished, they could hardly shoot at them while the robbery was underway without risking injury and worse to the innocent victims. However, when the gang moved away towards Buxton, they dragged Mr Baboolal with them, which no doubt presented the patrol with the further dilemma of what they could do which would not risk harm to the engineer.
And that is the crux of the problem. Here we have young, inexperienced soldiers - most likely under the command of an NCO at most, with no training in police work, no police powers (merely the power of citizen's arrest), probably under orders for obvious reasons not to shoot unless fired upon without clearance from senior officers who are not on the scene - being asked to make delicate decisions of judgement which highly trained SWAT teams make elsewhere.
Soldiers are trained to shoot. Their rules of engagement of an enemy are quite different from those of the police apprehending criminals. They are at best a blunt instrument for dealing with domestic crises, which is why they are normally called out only in an emergency. And while this might be an emergency, the Government is not treating it as such, and certainly has not taken any of the measures required to deal with it effectively.
In the long run the presence of the army on the East Coast is doing more harm than good. In the first place, asking the GDF to function with its hands tied behind its back, is a recipe for failure. That failure brings the military into disrespect among citizens as evidenced by the reaction of the residents of Strathspey, and is demoralizing for the ranks. And a demoralized army is absolutely the last thing that any nation needs, let alone one with our kind of border controversies.
Secondly, the failure of the army to prevent crime functions as a smokescreen to hide a failure of strategy. As suggested above, the whole approach is doomed from the start. The increased patrols and the partial sealing of Buxton might be temporary palliatives where the residents of Annandale, South Vigilance, et al, are concerned, but they are not the ultimate solutions to the fundamental security dilemma we face. Any strategy which does not encompass in the end confronting the problem of Buxton/Friendship itself, is a waste of time, a waste of taxpayers' money and a waste of effort.
And thirdly, by extension from strategy, the failure of the army allows the Government to deflect attention from what is really its own failure. It sets the military to do something which cannot produce a solution, and then the President gets up in public and criticizes his own men when the results are not what the citizens expect. Let us not mince words: it is the Government which has ultimately failed to solve the problem of the criminals who have entrenched themselves in Buxton/Friendship, not the army - and not even the police either at this late stage, who are also committed to the failed strategy. The administration can invite as many defence consultants from the UK or the IDB as it likes, but if it lacks the willpower to do anything meaningful about the core of the East Coast problem, then that too will be a waste of time and money - except that in this case it will be other people's time and money.
After a year of pussyfooting, it is time that the President and his Government committed themselves to a meaningful strategy to address the real problem and not its ancillary manifestations.
