By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THREE Chief Superintendents of the Royal Bahamas Police Force have been promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner, sparking criticism from a lawyer representing three other ACPs who have been transferred against their will.

Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle signed a RBPF force order yesterday noting that Loretta Mackey, Craig Stubbs and Solomon Cash have been promoted to the ACP rank while Kirkwood Andrews has been promoted to Acting Assistant Commissioner.

This brings the total number of Assistant Commissioners to at least eight - more than the police manpower audit ordered by the Minnis administration recommended in 2018.

When that audit was conducted there were ten ACPs. The auditors suggested there only needed to be six.

“The Bahamas when compared to other law enforcement agencies within the region has an obvious oversubscription in the ranks of the senior command, particularly at the rank of ACPs, Superintendents, Chief Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents,” the audit said.

The new promotions come after the Minnis administration directed eight senior officers last year to take vacation leave as part of a move to restructure the force. Three of those officers have since retired.

In justifying that action, National Security Minister Marvin Dames pointed to the manpower audit’s assertion that the police force is too top-heavy.

“We would have done these audits for a reason, “ he said in a previous interview with reporters, “we have to come to a place where when we do the work, when we do the empirical study at the end of the day we need to look at those recommendations coming out of those studies and see what is important to apply to improve the level of efficiency and professionalism to ready these agencies for the future because at the end of the day, it is service to the Bahamian people.”

Wayne Munroe, lawyer for three senior officers who have since returned from vacation leave, said the new promotions prove his clients were sidelined for disingenuous reasons.

“If six is your optimal number of Assistant Commissioners and you can’t dismiss the three persons who are there, how then do you justify appointing anything more than an additional two ACPs?” he said yesterday. “Not to mention It would seem like a waste of resources at a time when public resources are scarce.”

When they returned from forced vacation leave, his clients ACP Kendal Strachan and ACP Clayton Fernander were directed to head security teams at juvenile schools and the Ministry of Health respectively.

Meanwhile, ACP Leamond Deleveaux has been assigned to “to assist with the overall security concerns” at the Ministry of Education.

Mr Munroe, who said his clients are still years away from retirement, said the rationale for assigning them to various government bodies has been made out to be a “farce” by the new promotion exercise.

“(Clayton) Fernander is still waiting to get details of what they need from him from Dr Duane Sands,” he said.

“Deleveaux is still waiting to get the same thing from Jeff Lloyd. We’re in court for Ken Strachan and the lawyer said he has had problems getting instructions, blaming COVID-19. There does not seem to be genuineness in the process and sincerity and to use the prime minister’s word, humanity. How humanely have they acted towards our three ACPs bearing in mind what they said? The more they talk the more they are shown to be duplicitous.”

He continued: “I also do not know who the Police Service Commission is. We should know because it’s a matter that should be gazetted.”

The commissioner’s force order said the new promotions were made after consulting the Police Service Commission.