Yesterday, October 10, 2007, Jamaica's Commissioner of Police, Commissioner Lucius Thomas, announced to the Officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and to the nation, that he would be resigning, effective October 31,2007.
From interviews seen on TV, most of the Officers expressed shock at his decision.
They said that he is a very humble man, with a long career in the force, who was really concerned about the welfare of the members of the Jamaican Constabulary Force and, as such, were sad to see him go.
Commissioner Thomas' resignation comes amidst pressures from the Jamaican populace, that the new Government of Jamaica, do something about the burgeoning crime problem in Jamaica and police excesses in the form of police brutality and corruption.
It also comes after the alledged killing of Grants Pen resident, Andre Thomas, by four policemen who allegedgly shot him without cause, in the Grants Pen community, on Friday, September 28, 2007.
The policemen took three (3) days to return the vehicle that they allegedly used to transport Andre to the hospital, alive, according to his father. This was despite orders from Comissioner Thomas and the Police High Command, that the men turn themselves in and return the vehicle.
(Grants Pen residents claim that Andre was stopped and shot by the police along Grants Pen Road. They claim that he was shot in the arm and leg, then taken up by the police who drove away and finished him off. He was pronounced dead at the Kingston Public Hospital, allegedly with two more bullet wounds than he had originally received.)
As a result, the Grants Pen community, which was a model inner city community, due to it's ability to maintain longstanding peace, for a period of 3 years, has been in uproar, with random killings and reprisal killings.
(The public pressure was so great that Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Kent Pantry, ordered the policemen's arrest. They have been charged, but are presently out on bail on aprroximately JMD $220,000 each.)
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The following persons are said to among the shortlist of nominees to become the new Police Commissioner: Deputy Commissioners of Police - Charles Scarlett and Mark Shields, Assistant Commissioners - Carl Williams, Keith "Trinity" Gardener, Novelette Grant and Owen Ellington.
But we also hear that Director of Elections, Mr. Danville Walker, is likely to get the nod for the job.
Well, this may be so, but most Jamaicans are in favour of former Police Commissioner and former Jamaica Defence Force (the Jamaican army) Colonel Trevor MacMillan, getting the post.
[This I garnered from word on the streets (over the years) on the person, Jamaicans feel that could get crime under control and an informal poll, that was conducted by Betty-Ann Blaine, on her radio Talk Show, "On the Agenda", on Nationwide Radio, this morning.]
When Colonel MacMillan was Police Commissioner during 1993-1996, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) underwent radical change, with rogue cops being disciplined and the members of the JCF augering a new respect from the Jamaican populace, due to the change in the JCF's discipline and its treatment of Jamaicans.
(Colonel MacMillan insisted that all policemen, no matter their rank, respect all Jamaicans, poor and rich, alike. He also insisted that they be trustworthy, so that Jamaicans would be willing to share intelligence re criminal activity, with them.)
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The Police Services Commission, the body responsible for selecting the new Commissioner, has said that it will advertise the position.
Well, we await news of who the new Commissioner will be, as the person appointed, will really indicate to us as Jamaicans, if the new government and the Police Services Commission are really serious about curbing Jamaica's crime problem.
Gillian
Sources Include:
1) Nationwide Radio, September 28 - October 11,2007
2) Television Jamaica 10:00 p.m. News, October 9,2007
3) Article, "Walker for Commish? - EOJ President heads shortlist for top cop in Jamaica", by Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Cooridinator, Jamaica Gleaner, October 11,2007
4) Article, "Police puzzle - Arrest them! DPP wants cops involved in Grants Pen shooting arrested", by Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Cooridinator, Jamaica Gleaner, October 5, 2007
Tropical Storm Olga has weakened and is now a Tropical Depression.
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