By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle confirmed yesterday that he will be retiring from the police force this year after nearly 40 years of service, ending months of speculation about his future.

Commissioner Rolle made the revelation to reporters on the sidelines of a charitable event hosted by the RBPF yesterday.

The police chief said he plans to meet with Prime Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis on Thursday to inform him of his retirement plans.

“I met with the team this morning and I could say to you that I do intend to make my exit from the police force at some point. I will have 40 years and so I’m looking down the 40-year mark and I’ll make a decision on that in due course,” Commissioner Rolle said yesterday when asked about his future on the force.

Asked if he plans to leave the force this year or in 2023, he replied: “This year.”

 He also said: “I have said that we all serve in the police force for 40 (years) and I’m nearing that time. I’m looking forward to that. I will meet with the prime minister on Thursday, and I guess I’ll have a conversation with him and let him know. I have discussed already with my family, basically my wife, and at some point, but you know I have some vacation and we will see how that goes.”

 Rumours that Commissioner Rolle was leaving the police force surfaced late last year after the Davis administration took office.

 However, the police chief dismissed the claims, telling reporters in December that he had no plans to leave the force any time soon.

 “I’m 56 and the Police Act says you could work until you’re 60, and the Pension Act says 65,” he said during an OPM press briefing at the time.

 It is widely expected that Deputy Commissioner Clayton Fernander will succeed Commissioner Rolle after he retires, however this has not been confirmed.

 DCP Fernander is one of several senior officers who were controversially ordered to take vacation leave in 2019 under the Minnis administration.

 The high-ranking officers were subsequently given assignments at different government ministries which they thought were beneath their roles and experience.

 However, DCP Fernander and two other senior officers were returned to the frontlines of the force after the 2021 general election.

 DCP Fernander served as acting police commissioner last week while Commissioner Rolle was out of the country on police business.

 “Last week, I visited, at the invitation of the Crown Prince of Dubai, the World Police Summit that was held in Dubai and had an opportunity during this visit to look at some of the policing initiatives that they are doing there and also share some of what we are doing in The Bahamas,” Commissioner Rolle said yesterday of his trip.

 “You know Dubai is only one of the countries in the United Arab Emirates and although they are making progress in development, there are things that we can learn from them and there are things that they can learn from us.

 “But we also had persons there from Canada and the United Kingdom and the United States, all sharing information and so I have had an opportunity to look at their real crime time centre there in Dubai and the way things are done there,” he added.