When you wish to get rid of someone who is obviously successful, such as Police Commissoner Owen Ellington, you need to wage a campaign to remove him.

First step, start a whisper campaign repeating uncheckable ‘facts’ – beginning with party loyalists who are wont to believe whatever drivel is fed to them. Next step, get some affiliate to issue a statement that can be denied if there is no public traction. That’s called flying the kite.

If the whisper campaign is strong enough then it creates its own echo. You are on a roll if the press – or sections of it – picks up ‘the story’, and even better if the title “embattled” is dubbed on the individual. At that point the end is not far off.

In a small society, this can happen at the speed of a cane fire. Eventually, the “embattled” one tires, soon a package is offered and a new person is brought in as the saviour.

The question that must be asked is why after such a dismal record on crime in their previous time at bat would the People’s National Party (PNP) or any part of it, want to remove a police commissioner who has put up some of the best numbers in recent history. All major crimes, especially murder, have been significantly reduced, response times have improved and significant numbers of corrupt policemen have been terminated.

Fortunately, very few will fall for that PNPYO three-card trick in calling for Mr Ellington’s resignation. We don’t believe that any leader of an affiliate of the PNP can issue such a statement and survive beyond a week, unless they were instructed to do so. What is the motive here, and should we be worried? What is it that someone wants to unleash on us that the PNP feels this Commissioner is preventing them from doing and so should be replaced?.

The operational duties of the police force were separated from the minister of national security because in the past politicians had corrupted the police force and used it to do their bidding under the guise of fighting crime. Both sides were guilty enough of this.

This concept of a separation of policy formulation and police operations between the political directorship and the police is only worth something if the commissioner is not a spineless sycophant aligned to the administration in power.

If the commissioner is someone who believes that as long as he is obedient he will be able to count on a nice fat contract then he will put the interest of the party above the interest of the nation. We know that in Jamaica there are some people who, no matter how bad things get, can’t be fired. Loyalty to party trumps loyalty to Jamaica every time with the tribalists.

We would love to know whom the administration wants to be commissioner and the true motive behind it. For there certainly is a motive and we are convinced it has nothing to do with repairing more police stations, or providing more cars, or more training to fight crime, because one doesn’t need a change of commissioner for that.

Although the national security minister has come out saying he still supports Mr Ellington we are keeping a keen watch over this one. We strongly believe that if he is removed and crime begins to increase, then every death will be a testament to the betrayal of this nation.

Our advice is take credit for his work if you must but leave Mr Ellington to continue his good work.