378 / 494
377
11.55.
Lt. Col. Sewell said in reference to 2JR –
“I do believe that some residents who made allegations
against the JDF may have been speaking the truth.”
11.56.
On the part of the JCF, CoP Ellington agreed that citizens “were
angry about aspects of the operations”. He said that Mr. Golding drew to his
attention that residents were complaining of police misconduct. He said –
“I immediately ordered investigations into the complaints
and I got feedback within hours or days. Many of those
reports were found not to be true. Some of them involved
people who died or were injured. We are yet to establish
how, when and by what means. We started investigations
immediately and were well advanced when INDECOM
demanded that we hand over the investigations to
them…..In Tivoli Gardens, we went door to door and asked
citizens if the police disrespected them. We logged the
complaints and investigated. According to the evidence,
there were no concerns of rogue activity.”
11.57.
CoP Ellington also said that no dereliction of duty was reported to
him.
FINDINGS
11.58.
We find that the JDF used its best endeavours to deal with
its soldiers who misconducted themselves, although the JDF seemed
less responsive to complaints of abuse, verbal and physical, by soldiers.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that the JCF dealt similarly
with any of its officers. This may have been evidence in itself of weak
JCF unit leadership. Some residents testified that certain JCF officers
who searched their homes declined or were reluctant to identify
themselves. Other residents testified of lower-level police officers
being poorly supervised and committing criminal offences against
individuals. These instances point to inadequate, internal discipline
and weak supervision on the part of the JCF.