166 / 494
165
25 May. These tasks were assigned to the JDF but, in some cases, they were
carried out by the JCF.
SSP Graham
7.98.
SSP Graham gave us an appreciation of the house clearing
procedures.
“The instruction on the 24
th
would have been house clearing.
We had to make the area secure for us to operate. So while
the civilians would see members of the security forces going
through, lifting beds, moving away dressers and other
furniture, it was not necessarily a search. It was house
clearing to render the area safe. So, when the secondary
stage of the operation, that is the search and evidence-
gathering team comes in, we know that those houses were
already cleared and they were safe for them to operate.”
Second Wave - Searches
7.99.
The second wave of searches was conducted after pacification for
the purpose of finding firearms and contraband. These types of searches
involved more detailed and systematic searches of every building and these were
conducted by specialist search teams composed of personnel from the Caribbean
Search Centre and the Engineers.
Procedures and Property Damage
7.100.
Searches should have been carried out in accordance with the law
and any relevant procedural rules of the JCF.
7.101.
The evidence of residents suggested that the first wave of searches
(house clearing)was executed in a manner that paid scant regard to the law and
the rights of citizens. Since we deal separately and in some detail with damage
to private property in Chapter 9, we are content to relate, in summary form,
some of the experiences of residents. Troy Palmer saw soldiers “licking off the
lock” to his shop. Lovette Bryan said her house was “ransacked” and part of the