Why you ask? Because of the risk versus reward. To members of the government who view the men and women of our armed forces as a 'last resort' option and additional boots to be made available' to the ground' to bring a sense of calm authority to a situation, fail to realize that that is not what the army is for. In a toolbox of 'blunt force' responses the army is the ultimate blunt force of all; trained to follow orders up to the minute, to be unleashed against an enemy, to put down and kill where such force may be necessary - of course, but as a focused response in civilian quarters? Definitely not and ought not to even be considered unless the rule of law was so severely disrupted due to disaster or war that no other options were available. As a further analogy, using the army as a supplemental police force can be compared to fishing with dynamite; you will get results, but the costs and collateral damage may prove to be unacceptable in the long run. None of this is in any way intended to take away from the dedication and devotion of our demonstrably loyal army personnel who have saved this country from devouring itself on at least two occasions and for whom I have nothing but the highest regard for their potential and professionalism and nothing but respect for their patriotism. Rather it is an acceptance of the reality that training and skill in one area does not necessarily translate to success in another or, put another way, I would rather not have my surgeon fly the plane I'm traveling in just as surely as I would rather not have my pilot removing my tonsils.
And there's another reason - the separation of powers. In the movie Gladiator, Senator Gracchus, while appealing for his help had cause to say to the Gladiator (and former Roman general) Maximus Decimus Meridius - “This is madness. No Roman army has entered the capital in a 100 years. I will not trade one dictatorship for another” - which makes the point. He went on - “When you have succeeded, when all of Rome is at your feet, what then?” And that is at the heart of my concern, because make no mistake if you wanted to use the army to completely eradicate the underworld they could, but what then? Forget due process and a system of law and order, the army is a wide spray, it is a duck and run for cover scenario and while it could most definitely and completely wipe out the scourge of the criminal element in society, it would damage the way the society is run and ruin this country's reputation everywhere that matters in the civilized world. No we're not there yet.
There are other solutions that have not been tried and having Austin Jack Warner at the helm of the Ministry of National Security is not helping. His alleged 'Action Man' reputation built over a lifetime of ignoring rules and shooting from the hip is the complete opposite of what is needed in these circumstances as what is required for success - the methodical transformation of the machinery of law enforcement to a proactive, community based model complete with Judicial support and court reform to facilitate this new stance seems to defeat him on a fundamental level. You cannot encourage a culture of respect while you yourself refuse to be a respecter of persons, it simply does not work that way. Jack Warner needs to be removed from that position as soon as possible and replaced with someone who could command the people's trust. Who that could be in this Government is hard to say, but if pressed I am sure I could make some suggestions. It is really a damnable shame that we did not allow Dr. Dwayne Gibbs to finish what he started though, because the public was beginning to trust the TTPS again and that by itself is a most important thing. Now we've retreated to the dark ages of policing where bombing for peace seems to be the underpinning planning model, and like every version of itself unveiled in the past to much pomp and circumstance and symbolically named to announce its intentions, it will fail.
The fight against crime must never be allowed as an excuse for bad governance, not when bad governance is one of the main reasons for runaway crime in the first place. The government needs to come clean; make no mistake, in a world where consequence followed action this government would be paying the price for 'conning' its way into office and Winston Dookeran and his band in the Congress of the People would have paid the highest price already because it was they who made the previous regime's mishandling of crime the singular issue for premature government change and it is they who convinced the populace that they had a master plan to solve it. I have said before that the only thing keeping the people from calling for the outright removal of the government, the only thing keeping them from physically marching to Parliament to throw them collectively out on their ear is the spectre of those waiting in the wings, the alternative to government, the group physically ejected not three short years ago. What a position to find ourselves in, beset on all sides by violence and hate and short of leadership where it counts.
The move forward when it comes will offer calm logical responses in a planned and sustained environment that offers hope and opportunity even as it suppresses the killing spree. There are people trained at this the world over, professionals in their field whose services could be used to bring ALL crime under control and we need to seek them out and employ them.
Finally, one of the main drivers of the unending violent crime wave seems to be a resentment and a 'push back' by the masses on the bottom rung at what they perceive to be a criminal class running the country. Party financiers parlaying support in exchange for unchecked millions if not billions in state largesse does not go unnoticed by those employed to carry the loot and, not only are they not accepting it, they are challenging it in the language that all criminals speak, brute force. We have all seen men (and women) of questionable wealth obtained through even more questionable sources rise to positions of access and power in society to where their opinions are being offered to the public in some macabre mockery of law and order, furthering the parody of a real country that we insist on playing. Having head of DOMA Gregory Aboud continuously harping on about 'big business not being the enemy' rings so hollow when most people know each other's secrets in this two by four land, and I put to Gregory that the type of respect for success that he is longing for will only come through complete transparency and, in a country where most of the wealth that the wealthy possesses is arrived at either immorally, unethically, illegally or a combination of all three, a willingness to submit to scrutiny as to how exactly they have achieved what they have amassed.
Back on point. The idea of strong arm 'lockdowns' and 'crackdowns' in the depressed areas in response to crime will only serve to further fuel the growing anger. This crime wave has a cause and we need to stop attacking symptoms and deal with the issue sensibly and once and for all. To get to where we say we want to be we need to arrest the bandit class from the board houses to the board rooms and everything in between to establish a position of fairness and trust and equality for all before the law. Only then will we have the moral authority for a zero tolerance on crime that can be agreed to by all levels of society.
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