Locals were not ‘prepared’ for Top CoP post - Premier Fahie confirms
Instead, retired UK Police Mark Collins could be the one heading the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF).
Premier remarked it is likely because no locals were prepared for the role.
Premier Andrew A. Fahie made his comments on the Tuesday, January 12, 2021 edition of the Honesty Speaking radio show.
Future belongs to Prepared - Premier Fahie
“The future belongs to the prepared and this is why we have to continue to ensure that we prepare our people for all these jobs,” Hon Fahie said on the Tuesday, January 12, 2021 edition of the Honesty Speaking show.
The Premier was at the time responding to questions from host Claude O. Skelton-Cline on whether a retired UK police was the best the territory could hire amidst a sea of local talent.
“How is it that the Commissioner of Police, that job becomes vacant, and here we are having a retired officer from the UK coming here to be the commissioner of Police,” Skelton-Cline questioned.
The Premier related that having another top post go to another outsider will reinforce the need for the territory to train its people.
“We will continue to do our part as a government, but it calls for each entity to have succession planning and it has also to be that we ourselves have to see ourselves as the one who will police ourselves,” he said.
Sources say Retired UK Police Mark Collins could lead the force when current outgoing Top Cop, Mr Michael B. Matthews demits office.
'Disappointing' - Skelton-Cline
On December 18, 2020, Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) reported that well-placed sources confirmed that Mr Collins would likely take the role, however, during the show Skelton-Cline remarked that it was disappointing to learn that a local would not be taking up the post.
Mr Collins, who was awarded the Queen’s Policing Medal in the New Year’s Honours List 2020, has also held the national portfolio on policing and mental health, and in more recent years has also led UK policing in understanding and tackling group-based child sexual exploitation, according to Dyfed-Powys Police.
