Three contenders for top cop's job
reduced to three, Deputy Governor Mr. Peter Willis said yesterday.
Mr. Willis returned on the weekend from London, where he and Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman assessed eight applicants for the senior Police jobs and reduced the short list to three men.
The three applicants for the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner jobs will be interviewed in Bermuda by Governor Lord Waddington, Mr. Willis said. He will then make his selections in consultation with the Public Service Commission.
Dates for the interviews have not been set.
Despite a groundswell of opposition to the overseas hiring and a petition that is circulating against the move, Government and Government House hope to have the two top officers in place in March.
Asked if the applicants had been advised of the controversy surrounding their appointments, Mr. Willis said: "You can take it that they will not be surprised.'' Although there are only three applicants for two posts, Mr. Willis said it was not the case that only a single person was on the short list for one of the jobs. He would not discuss the "various permutations'' as to how that was possible.
Not all the officers on the short list had experience policing in dependent territories, but they all had worked in multicultural communities, he said.
Mr. Willis described as "absolutely preposterous'' a rumour that UK senior adviser for Dependent Territory Police Forces Mr. Lionel Grundy had applied for the Commissioner's job. Mr. Grundy's report to the Governor had recommended bringing in a top officer from abroad.
Government has said the overseas hiring is needed to fill a short-term leadership "vacuum'' in light of the imminent retirements of Commissioner Mr.
Lennett (Lennie) Edwards and Deputy Commissioner Mr. Alex Forbes. The Opposition Progressive Labour Party has argued that the Commissioner's post should go to one of two Bermudian Assistant Commissioners -- Mr. Wayne Perinchief or Mr. Harold Moniz.
Meanwhile, the National Liberal Party yesterday added its voice to that of the PLP, the Bermuda Industrial Union, the Bermuda Public Service Association, and the Committee for the Independence of Bermuda, all of which oppose the overseas hiring.
NLP public relations officer Mr. Graeme Outerbridge said Mr. Moniz and Mr.
Perinchief should be promoted and a consultant hired to work with them on management issues.
"It's not too late to reconsider the whole process, rather than making it even messier,'' he said.