THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is seeking a meeting with Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, chief of staff of the Jamaica (JDF) and Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, to discuss Tuesday’s security forces operations in Tivoli Gardens which left four civilians shot and wounded.

Bruce Golding, the JLP leader and MP for West Kingston, of which Tivoli is a part, told the Observer that he wanted to find out from the security chiefs what steps they were taking to ensure that when the security forces go on operations like that, that they abide by the rules (of engagement).

“.They are the ones who ultimately have the responsibility for the enforcement of those rules,” said Golding. “For the enforcement of those rules seems to be where the thing is going awry.”

Yesterday, Golding accompanied Public Defender Howard Hamilton on a tour of Tivoli Gardens. He said Hamilton promised to take up the cases of the persons who were shot and those who were forced to lie on the hot ground, and that of persons whose houses were shot up. “He has done this before with some success…”, Golding added.

In the meantime, the JLP said it would be discussing further initiatives it would be taking in Parliament, following Tuesday’s walk-out by Opposition members after the speaker denied them the right to discuss the Tivoli Gardens operation.

Golding was concerned that members of the security forces were not properly briefed and instructed before going on the road.

“There is going to have to be the provision of effective supervision so that no policeman below a particular rank and who is not sensitive to his obligation, should be allowed to be on the road firing shots or doing anything unless there is within immediate reach of him somebody who can say, ‘Hey, don’t do that. This is how we do it’. And the quality of supervision, I think, is poor.”

Yesterday, Deputy Commissioner Mark Shields, the crime chief, told the HOT 102 morning programme, the Breakfast Club, said personnel taking part in Tuesday’s operations, were briefed on the human rights of the citizens.

He said the party of some 300 soldiers and police personnel had gone into Tivoli Gardens in search of men identified only by their nicknames – “Nunu Puss”, “Harry Dog” and “Itis”.

It was difficult to carry out an operation in Tivoli Gardens, he said, because of the level of organisation there, but the operation had been well-planned. “We tried to cause minimal disruption, but by the nature of what we do, that will happen… If we had gone in there with a small force, we would have been annihilated. There would have been a bloodbath”, DCP Shields said.