The Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago said in a statement Tuesday the army 'lockdown' at Richplain, Diego martin is illegal. Soldiers from the defence force moved in and pitched camp in the community following the murder of army Corporal Ancil Wallace and his best friend Noel Charles on June 15.In the statement Association president Martin Daly noted that the Defence Force has no legal right to use emergency powers in the absence of a constitutionally-declared state of emergency.
“The Law Association fully understands that there is a national security crisis in the country, but it cannot support and must warn against the use of emergency powers in violation of the core principals of constitutionality, without the declaration of a state of emergency,” Daly said on behalf of the council.
He said the association questioned the “lack of even-handedness”. Daly warned that in the absence of a constitutionally-declared state of emergency, any coercive action affecting citizens’ rights must respect four principles.
Firstly, except for self-defence, the Defence Force can only take action “at the direction of the constitutionally-elected Government...It cannot otherwise act on its own initiative. Applying this to Richplain, Diego Martin, the public is entitled to know who on behalf of the Government gave the order to the Defence Force to go there and when, and through which superior officer of the Defence Force."
Secondly, the powers of arrest of members of the public are vested in the Police Service not the Defence Force.
Thirdly, there is no such legal term as “lock down” and the sealing off of any area does not overthrow the legal criteria for the exercise of the powers of arrest, search and seizure.
Fourthly, Daly said, “any joint exercise by the Police Service and the Defence Force can be carried out only on the authority of the police.”
he said in such an exercise, members of the Defence Force may act to assist or support the police, but cannot be in charge of the operation or exercise. “We are generally concerned about the lack of transparency in these operations, which should properly receive the scrutiny of the media whose members should not be unreasonably impeded."
Daly said the association felt that while many citizens are terrified by crime this was not a justification for unconstitutional action.
“The rule of law must be observed and if an emergency exists then the emergency powers available under the Constitution must be activated.”
The Acting Chief of Defence Staff has insisted that the army has never acted without the police during the Richplain exercise. “We did not go out alone. I can’t go out alone. We have to go with the police, so that the vesting of the power of arrest remains in the hands of the police. What I do, I assist the police in any action to ensure that they get their job done. But I don’t arrest, the police do,” Col Roland Maundy told the Newsday newspaper.
He declined comment on the law Association's position.“I don’t want to make a comment on behalf of the (Defence) Force. That becomes a Force issue and any issue relating to the Force must pass through my chief. We all work we have a particularly hierarchy. I’m within that hierarchy. I also get instructions,” he told the paper.
Assistant Commissioner of Police for Crime Gilbert Reyes said, “The army is a assisting in this operation. The question of power of arrest does not arise at all because the police are there.”
Minister of National Security Martin Joseph last week told the Senate that the exercise was a joint police-army action that had been arranged at a meeting between top-brass, which included Maundy and Reyes, although this statement has been challenged by the Opposition.
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