January 2003

• JDF Unleashes Five-Pronged Attack On Crime
• JDF Head Supports More Power For Soldiers
• Former ADC to Governor-General awarded Medal of Honour
• Security Forces, Hannah Town Build Relationship

JDF Unleashes Five-Pronged Attack On Crime

In a wide-ranging interview with Sunday Herald’s managing editor, Desmond Richards, head of the Jamaica Defence Force, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, outlines the military’s strategy in the security forces’ assault on crime.

Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin says the Jamaica Defence Force’s (JDF) role in the current assault on crime was based on a five pronged strategy. The military plan, Rear Admiral Lewin said, was riveted on the understanding that soldiers were out there to support the police.

“There was never any intention that we would ever take over the role of the police. The police are undergoing a few changes. They have their corporate plan which has been well-articulated over the past number of years, but at this point in time, while they work on their corporate strategy, there is the need for the police to be assisted in certain critical areas, ” he said.

The 31-year army veteran is conscious of the fact that soldiers are servants of the people and as such should be ready at all times to assist the public. After 30 years supporting the police’s crime-fighting initiatives, the army, Rear Admiral Lewin said, was shifting strategies.

Desmond Richards:  Tell us about it.

Rear Admiral Lewin:  Basically we are operating to a set of strategies, we are operating to a game plan. And I can outline the five strategies and it is important that we know that all the five strategies hang together.

The first one is to win the hearts and minds of the citizens within the communities and whereas the emphasis is on inner-city communities to start, clearly it is the hearts and minds of the entire population of Jamaica, because it is from them that we get the reports that will help the police to take action.

Secondly, to provide a security umbrella to isolate or displace the criminal elements who prey upon these communities. We do this by our presence.

The third strategy is to assist with the rebuilding of community organizations, community leadership and social services. I want to stress here that we assist because neither the police nor the JDF combined have the resources necessary to carry out all that is required to build those communities. But, we have made the start because we had to bring something tangible with the other two strategies that we spoke of.

The fourth one, is to execute focused intelligence-driven operations. This is the sharp end of the strategy and as far as the JDF is concerned we wish to and will hand off those communities to the Jamaica Constabulary Force for normal community policing, once those areas have been deemed in a state where they can be handed over (fifth strategy). The intention then is that the JDF will move on to another community.

I should point out that the entire initiative in a sense is islandwide and by islandwide I mean, whilst we are all focused on certain communities in the inner-city, wherever the police require our assistance, the JDF will be there to assist them. So, we cannot just look on what is happening in Hannah Town, Denham Town, and believe that that is it. It is five sets of strategies that all come together.

DR:  So far, have you reached that level in any of the communities?

RAL: No, No! We have been focused on Hannah Town, and Denham Town to a lesser extent, and we don’t expect that there are going to be any quick results arising from these, because it takes a longer time to build back those community organizations, to build back the community leadership.

DR:   What are you building? How are you building back communities? Are you building infrastructure, talking to people, trying to get a public relations thing going?

RAL: No, we are not into public relations and I really want to make that clear. As far as public relations is concerned, we treat public relations as the good that comes from us operating properly and professionally. We are not looking for glossy pictures and so on. If you can, fine, but this is not out intention. Our intention is to be professional, treat the citizens with respect and courtesy, but be firm in the execution of our duties. The public relations we are looking must come from that.

DR:   What has been done by the security forces to improve infrastructure?

RAL: Well I would like to confine most of what I have to say to what we have been doing. The police have a parallel program and there it varies. Whilst I say that, the police are there with us. Where we are working, we have taken on a number of derelict buildings, which were not safe for the people of the communities.

Secondly, it was unsafe for the police and the soldiers operating in those communities as these buildings could be used to provide cover for criminal activities. We are addressing certain garbage collection issues. We have brought down medical teams into the areas and we have had good responses to all of these. We have also made contact with a number of community leaders at various levels, people at the schools and so on, people who we want to emerge as the dominant force within these communities. As we work to rebuild that leadership, we are anticipating that very soon the larger social services will come in to bring the necessary resource base to the project. But, there must be people there with leadership within the community, so we are merely assisting the process.

DR:   Earlier you spoke about operations driven by intelligence. Are you satisfied with what has been achieved so far?

RAL: I am satisfied with the checks. I never went in there or embarked on this operation expecting that we have everything we need in terms of intelligence. It is something we build up painstakingly over time.

We can’t operate on the basis of rumors. That is the basis for trouble, so I’m quite satisfied with the way things are going because we’re developing our intelligence. I never anticipated that we were going to find immediately huge amounts of arms and ammunition. I can tell you they will come, maybe not in large concentration, but I assure you that over time they will come.

After our experiences within the Hannah Town, Denham Town area, you can call it a pilot project if you wish, we would have learnt. It’s a learning experience for us. Once we have shown good success it will get easier with other communities. There are no quick fixes here and it takes a lot of time to develop the necessary trust.

DR:   What are some of the new things that the troops have learnt since day one?

RAL: I don’t think it’s anything new. It’s really application of some of the things we knew before. The fact of the matter is, our method of operation in the past, whilst we may get some gunmen or some guns, would alienate the communities. The communities turn against us and we are there to help them. It seems to me that if gunmen actually prey upon these communities, the people in there are victims. It’s not every person in there who is shielding gunmen. If gunmen invade and abuse the citizens as they do, and we roll in to that community and find that the gunmen have left, and we abuse people because we believe that everybody is a potential gunman, then we are not going to get any help, and where does that take us?

It’s more acrimony and yes, there may be one or two bad eggs there, but the good people won’t tell us because there are fears of recrimination. So, we have got to take the long slow haul, building up trust in the communities. People must know that we are there for them, we provide their security. So, over time it will come together.

DR:   Is this what some call soft soldiering?

RAL: I don’t know what you mean by soft soldiering. I don’t know what is meant by hard policing. I don’t know from where these terms come. A soldier is trained to obey orders and instructions.

A soldier is a disciplined individual, so when we send a soldier to man the prisons, or the fire services, and various other areas in time of need, it is because we have a disciplined body of men and a structure built on a culture. Let nobody make the mistake that soldiers standing anywhere on any of these duties will hesitate under the proper circumstances to use his weapon. Don’t make that mistake. There are no soft soldiers. We are governed by the rule of law and there is no point in using the level of force that is not proportional. So if you threaten the life of a soldier, he will respond.

Sunday Herald 22 – 28 Dec 02