DEPARTING police chief Francis Forbes yesterday urged senior officers, in his age group, to follow him into early retirement to make room for younger people with new visions of the force to take over as leaders.

In a surprising development at the weekend, which fuelled speculation that he had been nudged out, it was announced that after eight years as commissioner of police, Forbes, 53, was stepping down to become head of a new Caribbean Community (Caricom) organisation to co-ordinate crime and security strategies among Community member states. Forbes has been a policeman for 35 years.

At his final briefing with journalists, Forbes did not directly respond to the suggestion that he was pushed out, but made clear that he was leaving on his accord, insisting that he had followed his own timetable for departure. He urged others with similar length of service, and who would be eligible for pensions, to follow.

His own departure, Forbes said, was providing an opportunity for new leadership to emerge.

When he officially leaves on January 19, Forbes will be succeeded by his current crime chief, Deputy Commissioner Lucius Thomas, who, Observer sources say, Forbes recommended for the job.

“Anyone who believes that they are the only one who can lead an organisation, can lead it indefinitely, is fooling themselves,” the police commissioner told reporters.

In any event, Forbes said, organisations needed to periodically re-energise themselves, and that is often helped by new leaders, with new visions and new ways of thinking coming to the fore.

He said: “I would take a bold and perhaps unpopular step by inviting fellow officers to consider the option of early retirement. I think that having entered into a new millennium, the force needs a new way of thinking.

“We have started a culture of change, but we need people with a new vision at the head. We need to provide space for the second- and third-tier leadership to evolve and to show their mettle.”

There was no immediate response to Forbes’ suggestion from senior ranks of the constabulary although there was a buzz around the room when he made the remarks, although the commissioner made clear he was targeting no specific officer.

Neither could his suggestion be considered an “ambush”, Forbes said, for it was a matter regularly discussed by the Police High Command who had spent a great deal of time and effort on the training of younger, talented officers.

Forbes’ remark, however, will likely resonate with both Government, Opposition and rights activists who embraced a three-year-old report by the National Committee on Crime that called for more than half of the top leaders of the force to be retired.

The move, the committee argued, would allow for the emergence of more educated, better trained and dynamic officers to lead and deepen the efforts of reforming a constabulary that had become almost paramilitary in its operation, with a reputation for corruption and for acting with impunity.

While he has been bashed for failing to cut into Jamaica’s crime problem – 1,445 people were murdered here last year – Forbes has been credited with enhancing training and promoting younger, brighter officers despite strong pockets of resistance in the constabulary.

He said yesterday: “We are of the firm belief that there are some very sound talents there with the skills and competencies we are looking for from people we expect to succeed us and rise to the challenge.

“I am just inviting very senior people to consider the route of early retirement (to make way for the new talent).”

Explaining his reason for taking early retirement, Forbes, who became the youngest officer to be appointed commissioner at age 45, said his initial intention was to stay in the job for five years and retire at age 50, having prepared a pool of officers from whom his successor could be chosen.

At the same time, he was working on a five-year corporate strategy for the development of the force.

But at the end of the five years, with delays in the launch of the corporate strategy and with his succession process not quite ready, he decided to stay on for another two years, which eventually stretched into another year during which a second five-year plan was drafted. That plan is expected to be launched next month by the new police chief.

Saying that the police commissioner’s job was taxing and lonely, Forbes suggested that he can’t wait to lift the burden.

“I have worked for eight years as commissioner,” he said. “I think if I had worked even another month I would be very cruel to myself. The pressures of the office of commissioner cannot be described.

“. The fact that the eight years have been very challenging only adds to the pressure that comes to bear on me.”

In assessing his tenure, Forbes said there were “wins and losses”, claiming that there were “areas where, with the best of will, I could not have done better… I did not have the wherewithal to do more”.

He also had a bit of advice to incoming commissioner Thomas: to be his own man and not attempt to be his predecessor.

And having “cut his own path”, the new commissioner, he said, should be prepared to “either sink or swim”.