Skip to main content

Tivoli COE: Disjointed Police – Military Operations?



From the evidence adduced at the Western Kingston Commission of Enquiry there was no joint Police-Military operation in May 2010 with the prime purpose of executing the arrest warrant for Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

Officially, the warrant for the arrest of Coke was the remit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). However, given the very limited capabilities of the JCF, the assistance of the Jamaica Defence (JDF) was critical to any such operation, even more so given the influence and resources of the Don in question.

So in all operations even a token presence of a member of the JCF was mandatory outside of a declared state of emergency. In the latter case the army is given overwhelming police powers, chief among which is the power to arrest. Hence under a declared state of emergency army units need not have a member of the JCF present.

It is against this background that the operation to capture Coke must be assessed.

The surveillance party was composed of resources from the JDF and JCF. That had to be officially the case; even though it is likely that the Military Intelligence Unit and a specially trained combat team would have been the driving force.

There were two separate operational plans. The military had its “Operation Garden Parish” whilst the police had its “ Operation KeyWest”. The existence of two separate plans is not unusual in security operations.
What is startling is that the top brass of each was unaware of the other plan: DCP Glenmore Hinds --who was in charge of the JCF Operations portfolio -- was unaware of Operation Garden Parish. Major General Stewart Saunders never saw the Operational Order (ie. Operation KeyWest) before the date of his testimony before the Commission—23 June 2015.

The sharing of information was abysmal.
Major General Saunders took sole responsibility for the decision to use mortars during the Tivoli operation of May 2010. Commission of Police, Owen Ellington, knew nothing about the decision or its implementation.
DCP Glemore Hinds was not made aware of the intelligence the military had during the operation of the route Coke had used to escape on May 24,2010. DCP Hinds was a part of the “Gold Command”.

 Indeed, so glaring was this deficiency that the Commission Chairman, Sir David Simmons, was moved to declare:
              “ I find it hard to accept that if there was intelligence coming through that Coke had got away           and the route through which he had got away, that this was not shared with you as head of operation. I cannot--- I find it hard to accept. I just say that.”

The capture of Coke was also heralded as a police operation.There is no dispute that the military was critical during the surveillance operation, monitoring and the location of the eventual capture.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dudus:The Extradition Of Jamaica's #1 Drug Don

We have posted the 3 book reviews that have been published in the Jamaican newspapers. There is now available on Youtube an interview done in late 2018. Below is the introduction by Angry People Smiling: "Dr Paul Ashley, Attorney-at-Law and Political Commentator, published Dudus: The Extradition of Jamaica's #1 Drug Don, a book which recounts the "Machinations of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) to delay and frustrate the extradition of Jamaica's premier drug lord, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke." To achieve that goal, Dr Ashley went to primary sources and published transcripts from both, the Manatt, Phelps and Phillips and West Kingston Commissions of Enquiry. Documents are scattered over the seven chapters. Dr Ashley provides an overview of this watershed 2010 event then examines the confidentiality breach, the delays and tactics, the machinations of both the governments of Jamaica and USA, and finally, the escape and capture of Dudus, who was wanted t...

Tivoli COE: Clarifying the US Role

"The full extent of U.S. involvement in the operation remains unclear."                           Mattathias Schwartz, The New Yorker , August 3, 2012 That statement comes from the leading researcher on the role of the USA in the May 2010 military operation in Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica. The Tivoli Commission of Enquiry (COE)  cannot fulfill its mandate if it fails to clarify further the role the USA played in the operation. Clarification can come from a number of sources. Then Prime Minister & Minister of Defence, Bruce Golding, has given Schwartz a most interesting interview. However, there are certain assertions that the COE may wish to seek clarification. For example: Golding requested the US authorities  to provide "aerial surveillance"that would assist the security forces in managing the operation.Golding claims that he had in mind "satellite images." Clarify : The exact nature of the aerial s...

Appealing the By-Election Order

Abraham Dabdoub's appeal against the Chief Justice's ruling can be divided into two overlapping and intertwined phases: That the Chief Justice erred in law by failing to award the seat to the only duly nominated candidate on Nomination Day, August 7, 2007 in the constituency of West Portland; and That the Chief Justice erred in law by failing to recognize and properly apply the distinction between " status " and " conduct " in coming to her decision on disqualification based on dual citizenship. Numerous cases on votes being declared to be "thrown away" and the next candidate being duly seated by the court are cited. The detailed submissions are set out below: Publish at Scribd or explore others: Law