JDF mum on gun security protocol

Three weeks after high-powered automatic rifles were reportedly stolen from the Up Park Camp headquarters of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), mystery continues to shroud the breach, with the Lieutenant General Rocky Meade-led army tight-lipped on the security protocols governing its armoury.

Up Park Camp underwent a lockdown on February 15 as officers searched for two M16 rifles that were reportedly discovered missing from the armoury, subjecting personnel and visitors to extensive searches at the camp’s points of entry and exit. Up to last week, the guns were reportedly not found, as the JDF said that an investigation was still under way.

According to the military, a number of persons have been questioned in connection with the disappearance and subsequently released.

The JDF recently reviewed its weapons protocol after Corporal Doran McKenzie, who worked in the armoury, allegedly removed a weapon illegally that was later used to kill his girlfriend, Suianne Easy, at their Greater Portmore, St Catherine, home in January.

Pressed yesterday on whether investigations had concluded whether the murder weapon was the property of the JDF, Major Basil Jarrett, civil/military cooperation and media officer, promised to provide confirmation, but several calls to his mobile phone later went unanswered.

Earlier yesterday, Jarrett declined to comment on protocols surrounding the issuance of weapons and security arrangements at the JDF armoury. He also refused to divulge whether the recent breaches had caused the military to fortify its security protocols governing gun issuance and the armoury.

“No, we wouldn’t talk about that. That type of information is classified, how we treat weapons inside Camp,” Jarrett told The Gleaner.

“We wouldn’t talk about anything to do with the security of our weapons, the procedures for keeping our weapons secure, or any securing mechanisms we have. We would not disclose that to the public.”

Jarrett also declined to reveal whether the JDF armoury was under electronic surveillance and whether investigators had been poring over evidence in relation to the gun theft.

The Jamaican military has historically enjoyed high levels of public confidence, but a rash of incidents involving cuckolded soldiers has caused that reputation for discipline to come under scrutiny. Investigations have been launched into at least two other shooting incidents besides the McKenzie murder-suicide in January.

Meade himself has not commented on the incidents.

Love triangle shootings

Last month, soldiers in two St Catherine communities – Portmore and Eltham Vista – were placed under investigation for firing a weapon at the paramours of their partners. In one incident, a soldier shot a policeman whom he reportedly caught sleeping with his partner. In another, the alleged cheater in a love triangle escaped injury by jumping over a wall after a soldier fired a shot.

The Inspectorate of Constabulary has reportedly launched probes.

Though Jarrett declined to give specifics in response to Gleaner queries, an army source previously told The Gleaner that McKenzie, as an authorised officer in the armoury, may have been allowed to take a weapon without submitting himself to best-practice reporting standards.

The source further explained that military staff who work in the armoury, which is a sensitive unit of the JDF, undergo a rigorous vetting process in addition to the series of background checks to which regular members are subjected.

The armoury is supposed to conduct strict record keeping, according to the source, entering the registration numbers of weapons, magazine quantities, the names of persons receiving or returning firearms, as well as dates and times.

Checks are done daily and sometimes twice daily, the source said.

However, it was reported that among the items removed from the crime scene of the murder-suicide was a Glock pistol similar to those used by the army.

danae.hyman@gleanerjm.com