The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

NINE chief superintendents of the Royal Bahamas Police Force have been promoted to assistant commissioner after their predecessors retired or took pre-retirement leave, with Shanta Knowles making history as the first woman officer in charge of the Northern Bahamas.

Commissioner Fernander expressed confidence in the appointees during a press conference yesterday, saying the team is best suited to support his vision to win the war on crime.

Roger Thompson will take command of the legal team; Warren Johnson is in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department; Roberto Goodman will oversee operations and drugs; Earl Thompson will oversee forensics; Dwight Adderley will have remit for the Security and Intelligence Branch; Training and school-based policing will fall under Chadwick Hanna; Damien Robinson will be in charge of saturation patrols; Anthony Rolle has been appointed head of Urban Renewal and Janet McKenzie will oversee the Human Resource and Domestic Violence Unit.

The officers are taking the place of several senior police officers who have retired or pre-retired from the force, COP Fernander said.

Deputy Commissioner Loretta Mackey and Assistant Commissioners Ashton Greenslade, Theophilus Cunningham, Ken Strachan, Craig Stubbs and BK Bonamy are the retirees.

Kirkwood Andrews was promoted from assistant commissioner to senior assistant commissioner of police. Corporate services remain his area of focus.

Commissioner Fernander said the now vacant positions will be filled by the end of the week. He said a succession plan to bring more structure to the senior ranks will be implemented through an understudy programme.

“Let me say congratulations to the officers who have been promoted and let me say this to the officers who have not been promoted, a great problem in this institution is that we have an embarrassment of riches,” National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said. “It would be a much simpler matter if we only had one or two people who had a stellar performance.

“It is indeed a difficult task to choose when you have so many people operating at such a high level, and so let me be very clear about this, we continue to be plagued in this institution happily so with an embarrassment of riches, of talent available, to be used to advance this organisation.”