GPF to bid farewell to 13 senior officers within months, succession plan in place- Leslie James

Assistant Commissioner and Commander 4-A, Marlon Chapman who is among those to retire soon

As the country prepares to head into General and Regional Elections, there will be several police officers who will heading into retirement either before, during or immediately after that period but according to Commissioner of Police Leslie James that is not much of concern as there is a succession plan which is in place.

In the past the police would hold the annual leave and request of senior officers to remain on the job despite their pre-retirement leave whenever there is an impending election season. This is usually done to ensure that there are enough hands on deck and boots on the ground coupled with the experience those senior officers bring to the table.

On Friday Commissioner of Police Leslie James was asked to comment on the fact that a number of senior officers were heading into their pre-retirement leave given the looming election period.

“There is a succession plan and I recall that even myself as a junior officer when I was on a junior officers course I did a paper where I recommended that there be a succession plan and I have put in place since my ascension, a succession plan” Top Cop James affirmed.

There are some officers who are expected to head into retirement as late as December 2020 but given accumulated leave, some of them are slated to be off the job way before that given the calculation of their annualized vacation leave and coupled with their pre-retirement leave.

Among those senior officers expected to be off the job are Deputy Commissioners Lyndon Alves and Maxine Graham, Assistant Commissioners Kevin Adonis, Marlon Chapman and Edgar Thomas, Senior Superintendents Linden Lord, Michael Sutton and Charmaine Stuart, Superintendents Roger Martin, Gary McAllister and Yonette Stephens and Deputy Superintendents Cecil Lutchman and Rudolph Banwarie.

“So whenever person would have proceeded into retirement we have persons, who in fact even before they would have proceed into retirement we have persons who are understudying them” James noted.

On Friday James told the press that Deputy Commission Lyndon Alves who is on administrative leave will not be returning to force Alves not returning as Crime Chief; new one to be announced soon- Top Cop

The Commissioners comments came even as he had earlier informed senior officers that the investigations into the allegations against Alves have been investigated and that Alves was cleared of any wrong doing. The rational to keep Alves of the job if the findings of the probe vindicated him, are yet to be made public.

Recently the police rolled out its regional commander’s initiative and a number of persons have been sent to command regions including superintends and senior superintendents. There is expected to be some movements among the rank and file within the senior officer bracket once some of these officers make their way into retirement.