In 1926 he was promoted to Inspector based at the Police HQ on Mount Scopus. He had responsibility for policing Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The most important events of the year were Christmas Eve and Easter which involved the Eastern Orthodox "Sabt an-Nur", (Day of Holy Fire) and the an-Nabi Musa Muslim celebrations. He was in Jerusalem on 11 July 1927 when Palestine was shaken by a severe earthquake that killed 150 people in the district. He describes the sound of people screaming coming from the Old City. He was sent to Jericho to assist with rescue attempts and then to Nablus to retrieve the dead.