By Dr. Emanuel Finn
In April 2017, chief Carbon turned down a UWP request for a peaceful march and public meeting in Roseau citing national security interests and public safety reasons. Did the Chief had any ‘Intel’ that there would there be foreign fighters and terrorists from Hezbollah or Syria at the planned meeting? This was the second time Carbon had denied the UWP permission from holding a march in Roseau. The party applied for permission to hold one on March 30, 2017 but it was turned down again on the grounds of public safety and national security reasons.
L-R: Carbon, PM Skerrit & Valerie
In August, 2016, The National Security Minister told radio that the government is not ruling out bringing in a foreign national to head the Police Force as it is not satisfied with operations in that department. A few days later, Skerrit went on radio and expressed absolute support for Mr. Carbon
In January, 2018 the National Security minister told radio that Colonel Jaimie Ogilvie, commander of the 120 Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) soldiers who were deployed to Dominica to assist with security and recovery after Hurricane Maria, will be conducting a review of the island’s police service. Before the Royal Military College at Sandhurst (UK) educated and trained Colonel released his report, Skerritt took to the airwaves and said that he cannot commit to all the recommendations which may be listed in the report.
Colonel Ogilvie
The JDF Commander delivered a damming report at the end of February 2018 on the dismal performance of the police service during the passage of Hurricane Maria and its lack of command and control during that major crisis. Some key highlights of the report which was never released to the public are: the Chief of Police Carbon and his Acting Deputy Valerie are to demit office in the public’s interest. The Police Force needs major and immediate changes at the helm if they are to accomplish the basic tenets of National Security in enforcing the law, apprehending offenders, preventing crime, preserving the peace and providing services to the public.
Other highlights of the report are: that The Chief of Police failed to take sound advice from his Gazetted officers prior to and after the hurricane and the eventual deployments of Police officers were primarily unsupervised, matrix-like and juniors were left dangerously and riskily unattended which caused the contentious and unjustified death of a young man at Fond Cole.
The review also uncovered that The Chief of Police displayed poor leadership in a briefing at Police Headquarters by instructing police officers” Do not put yourself in trouble for people looting after a hurricane. He “ordered the S.S.U to remain at Morne Bruce and after the hurricane most of them went home rather than being deployed to secure the city of Roseau”. And by complicit action or and inaction of the Chief of Police, police officers permitted the looters to ravage the city of Roseau ceaselessly for two consecutive weeks and took no action to enforce the laws of the land.
So did Skerrit implement any recommendations from the colonel’s report? The JDF high command in Kingston has probably dismissed Skerrit and Dominica as a big joke and a waste of time (‘pappy –show’). Let’s hope and pray that especially in this tense pre and post-election season, Carbon’s actions and inactions do not result in pandemonium of the likes of May 29, 1979 which almost destroyed Dominica.
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