Sleeping soldiers trigger JDF probe
Published:Thursday | December 19, 2019 | 12:39 AM
The army has launched an investigation after two soldiers, one of them with an M16 rifle on his lap, were caught on video sleeping at what is believed to be a checkpoint for the state of emergency.
The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) acknowledged yesterday that it was aware of the video being circulated on social media and said that a preliminary investigation has identified the location where it was captured.
However, JDF civil-military cooperation officer Captain Gladstone Fisher sidestepped questions about whether the soldiers have been identified.
“It is an ongoing investigation and we don’t really wish to comment until the investigation is completed,” he told The Gleaner.
The video, which appears to have been recorded by a motorist, shows the two soldiers – in full military uniform – sitting on metal chairs with their heads tilted. It is unclear when the video was recorded.
The video comes nearly one week after a picture, which was being circulated on social media, showed at least three soldiers sleeping inside an unfinished building.
Fisher made it clear that such conduct is not tolerated by the army.
“Obviously, this is not the standard that we adhere to or expect from our soldiers. We are always vigilant when we are protecting the nation,” said Fisher.
“It is something we take very seriously. We take our jobs very seriously and we are looking into it,” he insisted.
In response to a request by Fisher, The Gleaner forwarded a number of questions to the army, but there was no response up to late yesterday.
Among the questions that went unanswered was for the army to indicate the average deployment time for soldiers working in the areas where a state of emergency or zone of special operations has been declared.