SENIOR Superintendent Reneto Adams is planning to fight Police Commissioner Francis Forbes’ decision to redefine his role in the Jamaica Constabulary Force in court on Monday.

“I wouldn’t want to speak prematurely, however I can say Mr Adams will be seeking leave for a judicial review in relation to certain actions recently taken by the commissioner of police,” a source close to Adams told the Observer yesterday.

According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, a request for certain “interim remedies” would also be made, as Monday’s action would, in essence, be an application for leave to seek a judicial review.

The source declined, however, to outline the nature of these remedies.

“If the application for leave for a judicial review is granted, it will be some time before the substantive action is heard, hence the application for interim remedies pending the outcome of the matter,” the source said.

Adams, an outspoken, colourful cop who has never been bashful in front of the media, made no secret of his deep anger at the dismantling of the controversial Crime Management Unit (CMU), which he headed since its inception 30 months ago, and his assignment to an administrative job Monday by Forbes.

In his new job, Adams is to be the co-ordinator of the National Crime Initiative, a mostly back-office task that, on paper, will give him an overall picture of crime fighting operations across Jamaica. He is to continue reporting to Assistant Commissioner Arthur “Stitch” Martin, who became his boss earlier this year when the CMU fell nominally within Martin’s Mobile Reserve.

On Monday, Adams suggested that while he had no problem with being transferred, he was upset that there had been no prior discussions with him about the scrapping of the squad. He was particularly peeved that he learnt about the change via the media.

“They were the ones when they had problems in Spanish Town send for me,” Adams told the Observer Monday. “When they had difficult problems in the east and the prime minister was blocked and could not go to the airport, they sent for me out there.

“They were the ones, when they were going to shoot the Government out of power and other things, and were calling on the commissioner to resign because of the crime, they called on me and made that public. I met with the prime minister, I met with the national security minister before it (the CMU) was formed and while it was being formed. It was formed on trust. And now it is being dismantled I am told by the press?”

But Forbes, who told the press Monday that several attempts to speak with Adams before the announcement had failed, defended the decision, saying that sometimes the police chief “must protect a policeman from himself”.

“I have seen the warning signals, I have taken the decision and I stand by that decision,” the commissioner said Tuesday.

His decision came in the wake of last month’s killing of four civilians — two of whom were women — by the CMU in Crawle, a small community in Pennants district in Clarendon.

The police said the four died in a shoot-out, but residents insist that they were murdered by the cops.

The incident reignited a long-running controversy over the CMU’s credibility and methods of operation and led to renewed calls for the disbanding of the squad.

Yesterday, the usually blunt Adams declined to comment on the court action.

“I have stopped speaking,” he told the Observer. “I’ll let the courts and the lawyers speak now.”