COLOURFUL retired senior superintendent of police Reneto Adams has confirmed he plans to apply for the job of police commissioner to succeed Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin.

Adams told the Sunday Observer that he was putting himself forward because “the force needs strong and effective leadership”.

“I would come with a plan and a strategy to fight crime. I would mount the most massive operational assault to put criminals on the run,” he later told CVM television’s Direct host Garfield Burford.

But Adams said if he could not convince the Police Service Commission to give him the nod, he was supportive of the man chosen to act, Owen Ellington, describing him as a worthy choice also.

“He is a good man. He is qualified, trained and has the know-how,” Adams said, arguing that if Ellington, who holds a Master’s degree, was confirmed he must be in a position to “hold his own above the politicians and political pressure, and human rights organisations”.

Adams, 61, is now running a security company that has Caribbean Estates, New Era Homes and the Matalon group of companies among his major clients.

In his own case, Adams said, age should not be a factor in determining who the next commissioner ought to be, as he would serve on contract, if his services were required.

A feared crime fighter in his time, Adams is conscious of the need to have an independent thinking constabulary that will be geared at tackling the crime problem.

“We have become too subservient and it is time that we as a people believe in our own and not allow too many from outside to decide how crime should be fought,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Adams’ words of respect for Ellington, 47, were shared by three other retired cops, including former commissioner Lucius Thomas.

“I believe that he would be an excellent choice,” said Thomas, who served in the top job immediately before Lewin.

Ellington began acting as police commissioner yesterday, following the sudden resignation of Lewin. If confirmed, he would become the second youngest appointee as commissioner, behind Francis Forbes, who got the job on October 1, 1996 at the age of 45.

It is believed that the Police Service Commission will give Ellington the job of commissioner before year-end, in an effort to restore stability to the 8,500-man force that is grappling with a crime rate that sees, among other things, an annual average of 1,500 homicides, one of the highest in the western hemisphere.

“He has the capacity and he has been very principled and productive,” said Thomas. “He has been given challenging positions before and he has come through them with flying colours, one of them being World Cup Cricket in the Caribbean in 2007 when he was head of Jamaican security.”

Senior Superintendent Calvin ‘Benjie’ Benjamin, a highly respected law enforcer who served as head of operations at the Criminal Investigation Bureau before he went on eight months pre-retirement leave in mid-October, sees no one else but Ellington as the logical choice.

“Personally, I believe that he would be the best choice,” Benjamin said. “Mr Ellington is a man of action. He will get the work done. In addition to that, he will get real support from members of the force.

“He is a man who always wants to see the work done properly. Although I am on leave now, I called him and offered my support and passed on some crime-fighting information to him. I really hope that he gets the job, because he would be a great choice. He would certainly make a difference and I would continue to give him my support whether I am inside or outside of the force,” Benjamin said.

Thomas, who has been linked with a possible entry into elective politics in his native parish of St Ann, suggested that the constabulary was not altogether one united body, and it was crucial that a sense of order was restored.

“Mr Ellington has the ability to pull the force together, which is lacking now,” Thomas said.

“I met him in 1993 when Colonel Trevor MacMillan became police commissioner and he was Col MacMillan’s staff officer. I admired how he functioned from that moment onwards. He leads from the front,” Thomas added.

Adams, who is also farming in his native St Elizabeth, is firm in his view that a career policeman should head the force.

“I have always felt that way. I said when the last commissioner was appointed that he would not get the support of some members of the force and that turned out to be so,” he said.