The Army on the road to Negril

[Markospoon]

Them boys look serious.
While still in Montego Bay,
You notice the traffic start to slow down, then a line of cars ahead of you.
You will see a Soilder, M-16 in hand, looking at you.
He is standing in the road, driver side.

Man, that one is holding the rifle like he knows what to do with it.

Linston took off his sun glasses as we approached the 1st Soilder.
I took mine off too.
"He is the 1st one" Linston said.

Whoa, what's he looking for? I asked.
"Anything.......... something suspicious" then he can signal ahead.

I looked ahead and there were about 4 more, An army Jeep,
A few Sergeants/Lieutenants........
Then 2 more further down at the end of the street.

Man, if you get by that 1st one, make it past the group, then the last 2 will get ya.
As we drove by, a Soilder looked at us, but did nothing.
I looked hard at the M-16 rifle.

Yeah boy, it is meant to take care of business.

[Bnewb]

Ya...the only time we were almost searched/stopped was when I was driving a vehicle with diplomatic license plates.
They stopped the car and made me turn on the cars interior lights to search around a bit...politely thanked us and we carried on.

State of Emergency is set to end in Jan, 2019.

[Maralunatic]

Always kind of freaked me out a little bit seeing the army standing by the side of the road locked and loaded. I always felt vaguely guilty..

[Odinson]

Returning to MBJ last week past this SOE post, one of the guys headed towards the bush/shade where a table and chairs were set up. The dude plopped his rifle down on the table with the barrel pointed right at our heads (and everyone else's that were driving by). Not OK! Don't muzzle me bro! I get the SOE and the ZOSO and all that is being done to protect people, but please follow basic firearm rules!

[Jamaica Jeff]

The rifle barrel thing is no joke but the checkpoints in general are a total joke. Most often we are waved through but we have been stopped a few times and asked the most random and ludicrous questions that are of zero relevance. "How long have you been married?" The best is when the soldier asking the questions asks if we have anything for him or if we can bring something back for him. "Like what?" we asked. "Anyting mon" he replied.

[JohnNYC]

I walk past National Guard in Penn Station in NYC daily. They look younger than my son, who's in College. For some reason this doesn't phase me, but seeing military while in another country always makes me nervous. I guess too many episodes of locked up abroad.

[original spanky]

what is the state of emergency about?

[Mysoulshines]

I was so nervous going through thisnthe first time. Luckily, I was with Linston too and he explained what it was all about.

[jojo p]

Personally, I really like that they are there, wish they were going to continue to stay there !

[Odinson]

From today's Gleaner:
'Since the SOE was implemented in January, there has been a marked reduction in murders in the parish of St James. Police reports show a 72 per cent reduction in comparison to the similar period last year or 96 murders compared to 317.

The St James SOE will end on January 31, 2019.'

Not sure of the exact laws behind a State of Emergency but I believe it involves heightened security, roadblocks (like we are discussing here) and the ability of security forces to 'stop and frisk' without due cause. Some suspension of citizen's rights are expected. As above, it appears to be working at least in MoBay.

This is a good discussion and I look forward to clarifications. I work in and bicycle commute through some of Chicago's worst areas and when I hear people say 'Call in the National Guard! Clean up that Chicago!' I cringe a bit and worry that these people might not appreciate what they are asking for.

what is the state of emergency about?