43 / 494
42
CDS Saunders, Lt. Col. Sewell and CoP Ellington. In his witness statement,
Lt. Col. Ogilvie said at para.9:
“Shortly before the New Year, I attended a meeting at HQ,
JDF which was jointly chaired by the Commissioner of Police
and the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff and including senior
officers of the JDF and JCF. No operational plans were
discussed but the meeting focused on guidance given by the
Chairmen concerning the planning, processes and conduct of
any operation to apprehend Mr. Coke.”
3.28.
Lt. Col. Ogilvie stated that among the issues discussed and the
guidance given –
“were the need to ensure that Mr. Coke’s rights were not
violated, the rights of citizens were to be protected and the
operation should consist of 3 phases – planning and
preparation, search and capture, and the return to normalcy,
the importance of examining past operations in Western
Kingston, the need for disciplined but overwhelming force
and the importance of the security forces having a positive
impact on communities.”
3.29.
Between March and May 2010, 1JR did contingency planning,
training and rehearsals. Emphasis was placed on the CDS’s instructions for
Opening Fire, Human Rights awareness, citizens’ rights and issues such as span
of control, de-confliction of unit boundaries, identification of friendly forces and
the interpretation of the Emergency Powers Regulations were discussed and
resolved.
FINDINGS
3.30.
We found rather disconcerting the evidence of
CDS Saunders and CoP Ellington that neither knew of the other’s plans,
namely, OPERATION KEYWEST and OPERATION GARDEN PARISH. We
do not believe that these were matters for secrecy at the highest level
of the security forces. In our view, to the extent that the operation