REAR Admiral Hardley Lewin was the man for whom the Police Service Commission (PSC) in 2007 ignored police sentiment that their leader should come from within and approved to be the next commissioner of police in December of that year.

The PSC had for the first time opened the post to persons from outside the JCF, including foreigners – an action which enraged some officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

The search for a new commissioner to succeed Lucius Thomas threw up names such as former Director of Elections Danville Walker; Deputy Commissioner Charles Scarlett; assistant commissioners Carl Williams, Novelette Grant and Owen Ellington, and then Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams.

At the time, the selection of Lewin, who had served for 36 years in the Jamaica Defence Force – five of which were spent as the Chief of Staff before retiring in October of 2007 – appeared to be in answer to calls for a tougher approach to the spiralling murder rate. This was put to the question when Lewin, after just 169 days in office, resigned on Monday, June 2, 2008 only to retract the resignation a day later.

Lewin, who was 53 years old at the time of his appointment hails from Ocho Rios, St Ann, and is a graduate of Ferncourt High School and the University of the West Indies, where he attained an MBA. He was commanding officer of the JDF Coast Guard from 1988 to 2001.