RENETO Adams yesterday donned the familiar brown khaki uniform and epaulette bearing a crown and a star of his rank and immediately issued personal phone numbers inviting tip-offs about criminal activities, as he assumed a new role off the front-line but behind an intelligence desk at police headquarters.

“I will be collecting, receiving, managing, collating, analysing intelligence and passing it on to various agencies and police officers to whom such intelligence would be important,” Senior Superintendent Adams told the Observer from his office at 103 Old Hope Road in Kingston.

Adams, a little heavier around the waist than when he was first taken off front-line duties in 2004, was again his old chatty self, declaring that he was happy for the opportunity to again serve the Jamaican people through this new medium.

“Wherever I am placed, I have always responded so whether it’s on the front-line, rear-line or sideline, where the commissioner assigns me such as to this intelligence desk, I will gladly go. I have no hang-ups,” said the Jamaican supercop.

In his new intelligence job, Adams will report directly to Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, director of communications for the police force Karl Angell confirmed yesterday.

The decision was aimed apparently at appeasing the controversial tough cop, who was cleared of murder charges in the celebrated Crawle case, while keeping him off the streets to please his critics, including the British Home Office.

Deputy commissioner of police Charles Scarlet has portfolio responsibility for intelligence gathering, and it was not immediately clear whether there would be a conflict with the two men reporting directly to Thomas.

Adams insisted that he would share his intelligence with Scarlet and he hoped Scarlet would do the same with him.

But Thomas’ compromise move, while seeming to be enthusiastically embraced by Adams, immediately drew the fire of human rights group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) which made it clear they wanted him kicked off the police force.

“We are uncomfortable with it, in fact we are dismayed by it,” reacted Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the JFJ. “We are also dismayed that he has been given a desk at the commissioner’s office,” Gomes told the Observer last night.

The JFJ head was concerned that Adams’ reinstatement might have a negative effect on other officers within the police force.

“We are concerned about the message that is being sent around the force, particularly to those officers who have been working so hard to change the image of the force,” she said.

However, for his part, the head of the Police Officers Association, acting assistant commissioner of police Leon Rose, declined to comment on the development, saying he was off the island and had only just returned.

But one of his members, DSP Raymond Clementson, operations officer at Police Control, did not mince words about Adams’ reinstatement when the Observer sought comments.

“If I had the power, I would put him back on front-line duty immediately. I think he did a good job while he was out there and we need someone to be firm, fair and to take action when it is necessary, where it comes to crime in this country,” declared the outspoken Clementson. “He has been exonerated and I don’t see why he should not be on the street.”

At the Police High Command, Adams was upbeat about his new assignment, telling the Observer that he would be reporting directly to Commissioner Thomas and no one else. He was relieved to be back on the job and would be doing the assignment “with energy, loyalty and commitment”.

Adams, former head of the now disbanded Crime Management Unit (CMU), was removed from front-line duties after he and five of his men were arrested for the 2003 murder of four people, including two women during a raid on a house at Crawle in Clarendon. The police had said the four were killed during a shoot-out.

The five were acquitted of the charge by a 12-man jury in December 2005. Four of the cops were reinstated to their jobs, but Thomas ordered that Adams undergo a series of psychiatric counselling by consultant psychiatrist Dr George Leverage, and police chaplain Dr Vivian Panton before reinstatement could be considered.

He said on completion of the counselling a report would be submitted to the Police Services Commission (PSC) who would decide whether to reinstate him. After months of waiting, Adams complained to the public defender that despite his acquittal, he was still not reinstated. The long wait ended yesterday.

Adams said gathering intelligence was most important to the force as there were not many things the force could do without utilising proper intelligence that was actionable. One of the high points of his 38-year career, he said, was the fact that he was trained in intelligence-gathering, management and analysis.

Although confined to a desk job, Adams said as an intelligence-gathering officer, he would sometimes be on the streets, not on front-line duties but in a covert capacity.

Adams invited the public to call him at his office at 978-3371 or cellular 404-4384 and pass on intelligence reports to him in confidence.

With additional reporting by Vaughn Davis