Following the forced retirement of  the Deputy Commissioner and  two  Assistant Commissioners, five more  Assistant  Commissioners of Police  have  received letters  demanding that they  take vacation leave with immediate effect. 

The five include Officer in charge of Criminal Investigation ACP Clayton Fernander, Officer in Charge of  Uniformed Officers ACP Ashton Greenslade, Officer in Charge of Operational Support ACP Ken  Strachan, Officer in Charge of Public Safety ACP Leamond Deleveaux, and  the officer in charge of the Police Tribunal ACP Theophulus Cunningham.

At the end of the vacations  it is not clear if the officers will have to retire,  as in the case of  DPC  Emerik Seymour , ACP Stephen Dean and ACP Clarence Reckley who were  told two weeks ago that they were to take their long vacations and retire.  

The  decision came as a shock to the officers, but it is understood that  the high command were informed  by the Minister of National Security Marvin  Dames that the government wanted all officers with accumulated vacations to take them. 

When  questioned  on the issue by the media  yesterday, Mr. Dames  said that there will be more cases like these to come.

He added that there are quite a number of officers throughout the ranks with an excessive amount of vacation leave which successive governments have   allowed to pile up. 

“The fact is that we find that in law enforcement the problem is greater, but we’re trying to bring everything back in line. 

“Now there are some persons whose leave will run into retirement,  but they understand that,” he said.   

The Minister added that this move is all a part of transforming the force and admitted that government must do a better job at preparing officers for leave.

“We need to get to the place where we empower people, where we develop people, so that when we’re not there somebody else takes over.

“We’re all just passing through, we met these agencies here and we will leave them here too.

“The test is in what condition we leave them in when we move off the scene, but we’re talking about individuals, the  majority of whom are on leave,  who have in excess of  a year and in some cases as close to two years of   vacation,” The Minister said. 

A statement from the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party Fred Mitchell yesterday said, “there is a political  purge taking place  in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and throughout the public service. This  is an attempt to eliminate all PLPs from the public service. The FNM’s actions are wicked and evil and are condemned,” said Mr. Mitchell.