COMMISSIONER of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin yesterday tendered his resignation from the post, less than six months after his appointment.

LEWIN. refused to comment on the issue

The Observer received confirmation last night that Lewin's resignation, which took immediate effect, was conveyed to the Police Service Commission yesterday.

A source told the Observer late last night that Lewin, in his letter of resignation, admitted that he had failed to perform and that he did not get the full support of the rank-and-file. According to the source, the Police Services Commission is trying to get the commissioner to reconsider his resignation, but he is insisting that he wanted to go because while the crime was increasing he was not able to mobilise the rank-and-file to get it under control.

It is expected that Deputy Commissioner of Police Jevene Bent will act in the post until a new commissioner is named by the Commission.

The resignation came as the Cabinet reviewed a 'framework for action', which Prime Minister Bruce Golding said had been handed to him Friday by the leadership of the security forces to deal with the current crime wave.

Golding told his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council One meeting on Sunday that the framework needed funding, which he would seek from Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw, as well as urgent legislative action which Minister of Justice Senator Dorothy Lightbourne would seek to complete.

Lewin, who last night attended a cocktail party celebrating Lasco's sponsorship of the annual Top Cop competition at the Police Officers Club in Kingston, refused to comment on the issue. He was yesterday scheduled to meet with the Lasco representatives who were expected to pay a courtesy call on him at the Commissioner's Office, Old Hope Road this morning. However, he gave no indication that he might be absent.

Prime Minister Golding said Sunday that he was not satisfied that the police were doing enough to deal with the crime wave, and listed disaffection with Lewin among the rank-and-file as one of the reasons he had been given.

There has also been speculation about the Rear Admiral's relationship with the new minister of national security, Colonel Trevor Macmillan. But, some sources said the criticisms of the commissioner, including his suggestion that crime will get worse before it gets better, as well as his failure to impact on the crime wave since December, might have influenced his decision to quit.

Lewin, the former Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), took over as commissioner in mid December following the departure of Lucius Thomas, a career policeman. His brief tenure as commissioner has been characterised by a rising murder toll, with almost 700 people killed already in 2008, despite an eight per cent drop in January. May has been the bloodiest month so far with more than 180 people murdered.

Golding, in his address to JLP supporters on Sunday, promised tougher policing, but said it would be "critical, creative and strategic".

"We are going to have to be tough, but while we are being tough we are going to have to be creative, and we are going to have to be forward-looking," he said.

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