May 4, 2009 — If anything marked the look and feel of this year's Carnival, it was the tight security along the parade routes. Men and women in uniforms — ranging from police cadets in gray to National Guardsmen in camouflage — saturated almost every event.
"I think the presence of both the National Guard and the other semi-autonomous law enforcement agencies curtailed some of the violence that otherwise could have taken place," said Steve Parris of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA), who serves as deputy director of operations for St. Thomas and Water Island. VITEMA oversaw emergency preparations and helped the V.I. Police Department and other agencies with communication and coordination.
"Overall it was successful, although it was not incident-free," Parris said, referring to two final-night shootings and the violence that led V.I. Police Commissioner McCall to shut down the annual J'ouvert celebration hours ahead of schedule on Thursday.
After being activated for a three-day "territorial active duty" by Gov. John deJongh Jr., at least 30 V.I. National Guard troops — all of them unarmed — traveled in intervals throughout the crowds during J'ouvert on Thursday, the Children's Parade on Friday and the Adults' Parade and Last Lap on Saturday.
"We've done it over the years now supporting the Carnival on St. Thomas and Festival on St. Croix," said Staff Sgt. Karen Williams, spokeswoman for the V.I. National Guard. She emphasized that the guardsmen were unarmed and could not assist in apprehending suspects.
Guardsmen rushed to the scene when a second man was stabbed on the parade route of J'ouvert about 9 a.m. Thursday.
"They may run to the scene, but only to support," Williams said. "They're for overall security, crowd control and things like that. It's pretty strict what they can and cannot do."
While V.I. police would not give exact numbers, spokeswoman Melody Rames said more than 70 law enforcement personnel walked the parade route during J'ouvert, and similar numbers were on hand during Saturday's Adult Parade.
"We pulled in all our own resources and all those other resources available to us" for the parades, she said in an interview Monday.
Still, in addition to the three stabbings and a shooting during J'ouvert, two more shootings — one at Emancipation Gardens and the other at the St. Thomas race tracks — marred the final night of Carnival Saturday, Rames said. There were no reported fatalities related to the weekend violence.
"Having us there allowed the police to spread out and cover more terrain," said Lt. Col. Brian O'Reilly, provost marshal for the V.I. National Guard. "Although there were some incidents, just having an extra presence helps the overall safety of the events. I think we served the community well, and the community seemed pleased."
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