WE refer to the ''Whitehead incident'' of April 7, in which approximately 1,200 Correctional Services Department (CSD) employees and officers forcibly removed 1,500 Vietnamese detainees from Section 7 to High Island Detention Centre. This ''transfer operation'' was conducted without notice to those who were moved by the arrival of uniformed, armed officers (in full riot gear) at dawn.

The tactics used not only violate basic human rights and individual dignity, but also are counter-productive in both the short and long term. The unnecessarily violent approach had a traumatic effect on the detainees involved, a majority of whom were women and children. Moreover, violence begets violence, and the detainees attacked (as well as all other Vietnamese detainees who have heard of the incident) will now be more likely to resist, violently or otherwise, the orders of the camp administrators.

We suggest the following for dealing with potentially explosive situations: To the greatest extent possible, inform people of what will happen (even if they may not like the news, knowledge will allow them to begin to accommodate and prepare themselves for the eventuality).