Grenada’s ruling New National Party (NNP) government has decided to shake-up the hierarchy of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that two of the Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACP) have received letters asking them to resign or accept new positions within the Public Service.

The affected officers have been identified as ACP Maurice Darius who is the Chief of Operations in the police force and Willan Thompson who is in charge of Administration. A source who asked not to be named said the letters of dismissal from the police force were prepared last Wednesday in the Office of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell who is one of the two National Security Ministers in the country.

There has been no official announcement from the police force about the letters of dismissal handed out to members of the High Command. The source also pointed out that Darius and Thompson would be replaced by Superintendents Raymond Charles, the current head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and Superintendent John Charles, the current Staff Officer within the force.

Both officers have been earmarked for promotions to the rank of Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) as replacements for the sacked Darius and Thompson. Speculation is also rife that the Mitchell government is planning to remove from the police force a number of Superintendents and Inspectors as part of a wider shake-up of the force.

According to the source, the names being mentioned for removal include Head of the Drug Squad, Superintendent Edvin Martin, Superintendent of Police Frank Redhead who is the Human Resource Co-ordinator within the force, and Superintendent Smith Roberts.

Others who could soon be out of police uniform are Superintendent of Police, Eastern Division, Dunbar Belfon, and his brother Dowling Bartholomew who is in charge of Community Policing and Inspector Roderick James who is associated with the Drug Squad. The source also dropped hints that Commissioner James might also opt for full retirement from the force when he reaches the age of retirement from the service around the middle of next year.

Darius came in for severe criticisms by a two-member team of regional police experts who were mandated by the Mitchell government to look at the performance of the police during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

The report concluded that Grenadians by and large expressed “great dissatisfaction” with the performance of the police force and felt strongly that “the police under-performed to a significant extent” during the passage of Ivan. “The overall responsibility for the lack of preparation must lay clearly on the shoulders of the Commissioner of Police (Fitzroy Bedeau at the time) and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations - Maurice Darius)

“The obvious lack of preparedness clearly left the force totally ill-equipped to deal with the traumatic circumstances it faced following the passage of Hurricane Ivan”, it added. The report pointed out that none of the persons holding Commissioner ranks within RGPF came in for praise “because of their collective lack of demonstrated leadership”.

“The lack of leadership was the main reason that little constructive action was taken by the Force in the immediate aftermath of the passage of Hurricane Ivan. All five of the Commissioner ranks (Fitzroy Bedeau, Winston James, James Clarkson, Maurice Darius and Willan Thompson) in the force must share the blame for deficiency”, it added.

Bedeau has since been replaced by James at the helm of the force. However, he has been given a new assignment as National Security Advisor for the 2007 Cricket World Cup at a fee reputed to be $US5000.00a month.

In the case of Clarkson who held the post of Deputy Commissioner of Police, he was not asked to return to the job after embarking his vacation about a month ago.