Dear Editor,
Worrisome is possibly the most newspaper appropriate adjective I can find to describe the minister of national security's knee-jerk response to the "Wild West"style violence being perpetrated on our streets.
There is apparently no one on either side of the political divide who takes with even a tinge of seriousness the fact that our sons are dying on our corners and in our neighborhoods daily. What is even more disastrous is the fact that now the answer seems to be to put soldiers in a position where many will be exploited, misused or even find themselves liable due to poorly drawn lines of jurisdiction and the absence of basic standard operational procedures.
It is shameful that we have found ourselves right back to where we were in 2013, when murderous crime raised its head in a similar fashion. It was then that this same minister of national security decided to get the RBDF involved. Absolute dysfunction and chaos are understatements for what happened then, as 150 well-trained marines sat idle in a conference room of the attorney general's office to see who could slick their boots the nicest, or eagerly awaiting the clock to strike 1700 hours so we could go home.
We have been here already. It was a scatterbrained idea in 2013 when the gynecologist turned war expert created it; and it is one now. What troubles me more as a soldier who has had an opportunity to serve 10 years, nine months and 18 days, and, also having served in the first failed dispatching of marines, is that politicians feel they can come up with poor policies, draft flimsy legislation and create no clear procedural conduct or standard operational procedures, and then sprinkle marines among this quagmire they create - all for political expedience or cheap political points.
Further, I cannot help but address Marvin Dames and his purposefully polarized statements in the newspaper just days ago, asking what the plan was and suggesting that the commissioner's plans had failed. Needless to say, Dames was the other half of that dream team in 2008. Yet in the face of the greatest scourge of crime, after having the resources of the country invested into him almost without boundary, Marvin decided that he would choose a path of lesser resistance, trade in his badge and enjoy a plush life in a pinstripe suit.
It is sickening to have read an entire article pointing at the failures of which he, in my estimation, is equally culpable while offering not one single idea during this entire spat of political rhetoric. For the record and for the benefit of those who do not know, Dames was deputy commissioner of police from 2008 to May 30, 2011 - a significant enough portion of the decade enforcing failing crime strategies and bad policy decisions.
Furthermore, who could forget how flabbergasted Hubert Ingraham was when he saw the complete 180-degree turnaround in the police leadership team's ideology regarding Urban Renewal, as well as other initiatives that were abandoned or adjusted during his tenure as prime minister. Now, Dames, the policeman turned politician, wants to hope to bear the burden of none of it, and to that I cry foul.
I will say, though, that Marvin is right about one thing. This reattempt to introduce military force to the streets leaves a lot of questions. It is sad how only three years ago we were here and now we are here again. It, in my estimation, is the most flamboyant display of gross ineptitude that we are even having this kind of discussion after already trying it as a mock idea. Regrettably, there is still no standing by standard operational procedure for how it will work. This is where I must now make a cry for soldiers. Where are the lines of jurisdiction drawn? Who has the seniority and when can it be overridden? Who has the power to override? What are the rules of engagement? How do we introduce now a uniform standard of policing? What is the safety net for instances where marines function on instinct based on inculcated knowledge, rather than on some crash course, newly acquired information? In an instance where there is a police shooting, who takes the first shot and who takes the last? Who gives that order?
More importantly, what protection is given to the marine now that he finds himself fighting criminal street elements? Is he allowed to take his weapon home? Which rank should be allowed to? Does he wear a mask since he is going into gang turf? Are masks going to be standard RBDF issued items? What happens if he is shot? How does he take vacation? Even more basic, who writes on his promotional report while he is out doing a job that technically someone else is being paid to do?
So many unanswered questions, and I for one think that ratings, the poor enlisted souls, will be left in the proverbial cold should something go awry.
It seems that Dr. Bernard Nottage is in over his head and is in desperate need of help. The real question that the minister should be answering is has he really done all of the first steps in crime fighting before we got here? These include questions like:
o Have you cancelled all study leave for officers until the crime gets under control to beef up your officers?
o Have you commanded that cars owned by the force be turned in at 5 p.m. so that they can enter a pool and we can increase patrols?
o Have you gotten the CCTV monitoring set up in the control room so that it can be manned 24 hours and manned by the actual responding agency?
o Have you tweaked your vehicle assignments in an effort to create the equivalence of a highway patrol police system? (One officer, one car, one block.)
o Have you started to GPS police vehicles so that we know where our assets are at all times?
o Have you gutted the reserve police unit, added fresh legs and younger civilians to that complement to ensure regular officers are not burnt out and get time to rejuvenate?
o Have you begun looking for a new commissioner of police?
o There are several Green Beret-trained, United Kingdom military standard skilled men just walking aimlessly around since retirement. Have we pulled them in as a special tactical advisory unit to plan strategy policy, sops, infiltration techniques, etc.?
o Have you addressed the morale issues police have had since the 12-hour system? (The payment of funds ordered by the Supreme Court.)
o What about static patrol stations?
I am sure you are aware this list can go on forever, but that would be an exercise in futility. It is my hope that the minister gets it right, as I am concerned the lives and careers of soldiers depend on it. It was already an egregious offense that this administration, and this same minister, decided for almost three years not to give that organization a commander and now you are increasing duties, increasing risk, increasing gray areas, increasing operations, and the list goes on.
It was this minister, Nottage, in 2016 on the podium of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, who said that during his tenure as minister the RBDF had always answered the call of service to country. Yet Nottage seems to have turned the RBDF into his personal whipping boy - all of which will take a toll on soldiers.
I can only begin to imagine the quagmire that will be created as it was in 2013 when police officers and marines found themselves in standoffs over jurisdiction; or where officers and marines were almost sitting in each other's laps; out stations were over-complemented; where there was insufficient working equipment to facilitate the rapid poorly planned injection of boots on the ground; or even worse, instances where as soon as cams and boots showed up, depo blues and red stripes disappeared, adding nothing to this crime fight.
The plan must have more depth to it. I don't care what the minister says. I am willing to bet that neither the minister, nor the commissioner, nor the "acting commander" of the RBDF can state that there is a plan; and I expect pandemonium. Who will sail the taxpayers' $200 million worth of ships while marines man the streets? Who will man the ports and the various satellite bases? Who will man the navigational aides, which are such a necessity in the cruise ship sector of our tourism product while our marines are out busy catching drug dealers and turf leaders?
This is a plan bathed in ineptness, and on this one I believe the minister should resign.
I am hopeful, though, that for the love of God he carries with him this failed commissioner, who has tripped over himself from day one; possibly because he was under-tested and over-glorified.
Additionally, I hope that Dames pays a great price for this bogus response he is trying to pull on a dying nation, hopeful for change. His statements last week amount to hogwash. Marvin, if you were so integral in the acquisition of "two specially designed vans", what did you do during the four of the 10 years with these "two specially designed vans" while our sons were being killed on the streets? Taking special consideration to the fact that while you were the deputy commissioner, with "two specially designed vans", the murder count in 2011 was 127; the murder count in 2012 was 111; the murder count in 2013 was 120; and just to be fair to you, since you resigned your position almost at the middle point of 2014 to assume your new plush life aboard the sinking ship known as Baha Mar, we will only credit your watch with half of the 122 murders (61) in 2014. Also, to save you from being egg-faced, we won't mention murder increased by 2.5 percent the very same year you left us as a country, failing in our fight against crime. The same country that spent tax dollars to invest in your ability to rid our streets of crime.
Make no mistake, we can no longer leave this country in the hands of a gynecologist turned war expert, a disgruntled policeman turned state minister and a computer geek turn police chief. Maybe they should all retire together and open a wonderful little Baptist church on a Family Island, as clearly there is nothing left in any of them that would address where we are in this crime fight.
In closing, while I really like Dames, I think he ought not continue to be disingenuous in his comments and let us seek to fix this crime problem without polarization.
- Leyvon Miller
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
