The Number Two man in the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF), acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Tafawa Pierre is returning to his substantive position of Superintendent of Police.
Informed sources told THE NEW TODAY that the decision was taken for Pierre to be sent back to his position during a high level meeting of a powerful arm of the nine-month old National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
Pierre is the husband of former Education Minister Emmalin Pierre, one of the successful candidates of the now opposition New National Party (NNP) that suffered a 9-6 defeat at the hands of Congress in the June 23, 2022 general election.
The new administration has been facing severe criticisms from supporters and members who want to see a number of high-ranking police officers known to be aligned to the previous Keith Mitchell-led NNP government removed from sensitive positions within the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF).
Pierre, the former head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has benefited from rapid promotion over the years within RGPF under Keith Mitchell’s rule of the island.
As head of FIU, he was known to be spearheading an investigation allegedly on instructions from then Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell into a matter involving a former Congress government minister and his son.
The Pierre family is known to be strongly aligned to the NNP regime with his elder brother Michael Pierre serving for two terms between 2013 and 2022 as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The move on Supt Pierre leaves only Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) John Mitchell, a relative of former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, as the only suspected supporter of the defeated regime left within the Police High Command.
In the past month, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has promoted two senior officers – Superintendents Vannie Curwen and Randy Connaught – to the rank of acting Assistant Commissioners of Police as the new Congress government seeks to consolidate its power in Grenada.
The commission, headed by female attorney-at-law Debra St Bernard, is said to be of the view that it was left to Acting Commissioner of Police Don McKenzie to reassign Pierre to a job description in keeping with his substantive post in the Police Force.
ACP Mitchell who is in charge of Operations in the police force is now expected to come under increasing scrutiny by the new rulers.
He has been identified as the police officer who took a strong line against a Police Constable who had visited the Ministerial Complex in the Botanical Gardens a few months before the change of government to serve a letter on then Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell in connection with a court-related matter.
The Junior Officer told colleagues that he received a severe tongue lashing from ACP Mitchell and pointed out that “the only thing he (Mitchell) didn’t do was to put his hand on me.”
The new Congress government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is said to be mindful of concerns expressed by supporters that the previous NDC government of Tillman Thomas was sabotaged due to its failure to remove a number of key and loyal NNP supporters from sensitive positions within the Public Service.