By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander defended the high number of assistant commissioners in the Royal Bahamas Police Force after recent promotional exercises brought the number to 14.

A manpower audit in 2018 found that the RBPF is top-heavy and only needs six assistant commissioners.

According to the Jamaican Constabulary Force’s website, Jamaica’s national police force has six assistant commissioners. The Metropolitan Police Service, the United Kingdom’s largest police force with more than 47,000 officers, has seven.

Commissioner Fernander said early Wednesday morning: “I was able to justify the amount of officers that were promoted to the board and we want effective management at the division.

“We got a black eye in social media in recent times where you saw two young officers was engaged in some altercation at the station and there was lack of supervision at those divisions.

“What you will see now is an assistant commissioner of police is in charge of two stations, and we will have a command structure across the board. You will see that, so I think the promotion went very well.”

The Minnis administration was criticised for a similar promotion exercise in 2020 that increased the number of ACPs to eight despite the conclusions of the manpower audit it ordered.

 Commissioner Fernander said more senior people are needed in growing Family Islands like Exuma, Eleuthera and Abaco.

 “We are even trying to identify assistant commissioners to man those areas because the family of islands, they are growing, the economy is doing well and we are looking for safety across the board,” he said.

 He also discussed the promotions in the context of a recent ruling where the former head boy of Westminster College was awarded $60k in damages and costs for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment.

 The youth was arrested in 2020, forced to sleep on the floor while in custody for 17 hours, and made to miss several BGCSE exams.

 Asked if the officers involved in that will be disciplined, Commissioner Fernander said: “My legal team is still looking into that matter, so I don’t want to go in-depth with it, but we are talking about leadership at those divisions, and you would see the structure in my meet the press in 2024, early January.”

 This month, 721 officers were promoted through the ranks of corporal, sergeant, inspector, assistant superintendent, superintendent and chief superintendent.