The call by a former top officer in the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) for a relook of the current operations of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) should not be allowed to fall on deaf ears.
The ex-senior cop is correct in his analysis of what should be done to help put the CID in a much better place to arrest the recent upsurge of criminal activities on the island, especially the murder cases.
The problem lies in the top echelon of the Police Force as most of the members of the High Command do not have the experience or know how to effectively deal with the situation.
It is sad that not one member of the High Command has any experience of serving as head of the CID and can provide some kind of guidance to his other colleagues at that high level of the force.
The closest among them is acting ACP Vannie Curwen who has experience as a Police Prosecutor but never operated within the CID orbit among the previous top crime fighters.
The lack of a senior police officer with CID investigative knowledge and training within the High Command should be of concern and the Prime Minister as Minister of National Security Dickon Mitchell and his National Security Advisor Willan Tompson should relook this as a matter of urgency.
It is also of concern that the current head of Operations in RGPF has no track record in crime fighting and definitely faces a deficit in coming up with the strategic thinking that is needed at this crucial point in time.
Even the current Acting Commissioner of Police Don McKenzie has his own limitations when it comes to the area of crimes as he spent most of his years serving at the Richmond Hill prison and also at the Grenada Ports Authority (GPA).
The idea of bringing back Superintendent of Police Kenneth Gill and other experienced officers to the CID in light of the current situation to help solve the recent crimes, especially those five to six murders in the past eight to ten weeks should not be thrown out the door.
THE NEW TODAY would also like to suggest to Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and his National Security Advisor, as well as the members of the Police High Command that they need to look at ways of tapping into the experience of those previous crime fighters with an impressive track record.
RGPF can arrest the situation if they pool the available resources inside the country to come up with a different strategy to get the desired results.
The High Command should engage a number of top ace crime fighters of the past like ACP Trevor Modeste, Supts Anthony Joseph, and Earl Dunbar, and ASP Ignatius Mason and the likes to give some ideas to the current CID investigators on possible angles to look at in trying to crack the murders.
This is something that is badly lacking in RGPF – a platform that should have been created years ago by those senior officers running the Police Force to allow the retired crime chiefs to interact and pass on their years of knowledge and experience to the current crop of CID Investigators.
The current head of CID Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ryan Hall is well-respected in police circles and needs all the assistance necessary to help solve the recent crimes.
The High Command should give serious consideration to the idea thrown out by a retired senior ranking officer to allow ASP Hall to go out in the field for the next month on a daily basis to take charge of the ground game with a team of competent and experienced men of his choice to solve the recent murders.
The strategy has worked for CID in the past with former Deputy Commissioner of Police Raymond Charles then holding the rank of Superintendent of Police being placed in CID to take charge of the administrative functions of the Department so that Supt Joseph and a Team can go out and roam the country and get the information to solve the spate of murders back then.
The strategy worked several years ago and should be deployed once again with ASP Hall being given the leeway to go on the ground full time and led the way in helping to wrap up these recent murder cases.
THE NEW TODAY would also like to address the call made by former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to bring in Scotland Yard to help solve the recent murders in the country.
This is nothing but hogwash and political grandstanding by an outdated politician who is seeking to gain relevance once again in the country.
It should be recalled that under the watch of Keith Mitchell, the longest serving Prime Minister in the country, there were about 18 murders in one year and he did not call in Scotland Yard to assist RGPF to crack the cases.
How come with about 15 murders, the former Prime Minister and current Opposition Leader is calling on his predecessor in office, Dickon Mitchell to look to Scotland Yard to solve the problem?
Those murders in the past were solved by the same RGPF with officers like the retired Superintendent of Police Anthony Joseph being brought back into CID to lead the team of investigators to tackle the crimes and they were very successful.
Our call is for the current leadership of the Police Force to strengthen CID by bringing back to the unit those experienced hands that are already within the organisation and were transferred in questionable circumstances in order for RGPF to get the results in the interest of all Grenadians.