To Protect & Beat... (The Regiment's finest hour)

I think what struck me the most after yesterday's mini disaster in Diego Martin was the speed with which our civilization can be lost. In quick time, with roads impassable, utilities down and communication interrupted, some people appeared to be making the rules up as they went along. One notable instance occurred when my neighbors and I had to intervene when four soldiers dragged a man into our compound and were in the process of beating him senseless with their gun butts, and it was only the realization that I was filming them that made them stop as they were completely ignoring our requests that they stop (in a rather threatening manner), oblivious to the fact that they were on private property or that they had absolutely no authority to do this. But how do you blame these young men though, when others train them to fight, put menacing weapons in their hands and send them out into a crisis zone without so much as supervision, authority or anything like a plan? And why was the army dispatched to a flood with rifles? Were they supposed to shoot the rising water?

Clearly something was lost in the rush to respond and questions need to be asked as to the army's role in any relief effort, were they there to assist the police? CEPEP? The Regional Corporation? WASA? Outside of search and rescue, relief and restoration, the only other role that needed playing by any state organization was the maintenance of law and order, and surely as that is the police services's mandate and role then just as surely the army personnel should have been place under their direct authority, not so?

More important than response is sensible response in my opinion, as in these circumstances lives could unnecessarily be lost due to negligence or, as in this case, misdirected state sponsored hooliganism. Contrasted with the police officers whose performance was a notch above exemplary, the gains wrought by by 21st Century policing were clearly evident and will surely be missed and perhaps this is precisely why our soldiers should never be 'precepted' as they do not currently have the training nor possess the skill set to manage in a strictly civilian environment. Again, I am not in any way trying to diminish the severity of the moment or take away from the circumstances, but if ever there was an example of the difference between the army and the police service and the respective roles they play in our country, this was it.

I have not published the video as I am making it available to the Authorities first to determine what should be done with it if anything. As of this writing a copy has already been given to the Director of Public Prosecutions and based on his advice I shall also make it available to the media, the Ministry of National Security and the Army Chief of Staff.