An application process, for a new Commissioner for the Royal Anguilla Police Force, is scheduled to end on September 18. It is a search to find a replacement for Mr. Paul Morrison who was recruited to Anguilla some five years ago.
Prior to his arrival, he was a retired Chief Superintendent and Head of Operations (Command) with the Sussex Police in the United Kingdom. He succeeded former British Commissioner in Anguilla, Mrs. Amanda Stewart, who resigned just weeks after her appointment. Originally from Belfast, she was the first UK Commissioner in Anguilla, having taken over from Anguillian, Mr. Rudolph Proctor, following his retirement in 2015.
Governor Tim Foy, OBE, who has responsibility for the Royal Anguilla Police Force, told The Anguillian newspaper: “Recruitment is underway now. With years serving Anguilla as Commissioner, I think he has reached the point when, probably best for him, he wants to go back home. It has been a challenging five years, but I think the Force is good. He has built on the work by previous Commissioners and having Keithly Benjamin work as a Police Commissioner was outstanding. In a way, it is easy to look at one individual but they all stand on the shoulders of those who came before. I think Mr. Morrison has been fortunate that there was a good succession of Police Commissioners before him. And so, he inherited a Force that was a good one – and he has had the opportunity to build on that. “
Asked whether the thinking was to recruit a Police Commissioner from outside Anguilla, Governor Foy replied: “I think we should look at getting the best we can. For the criteria for the selection of the Commissioner, in terms of qualifications and experience, I will look essentially at what the market offers as the applications come in. I will do it completely blind in a way to where the persons come from. I certainly have no presumption that it should be someone from the United Kingdom, Canada or wherever.
“I will look at who are there – and work out to find the person that will best fit what we need in terms of the next route of policing. We all are the caretakers of an organisation and we want to leave it a bit better than we found it. But we always build on the work of those who came before.”
Pointing to his own case, Governor Foy added: “In a way, I very much built on the work which Christina Scott did about making the governorship far more open – being more accessible. I think she did a very important thing in being accessible and that, for me, is very important. The experience and skills I have are the important ones that matched what the job needed at that time. They might not work somewhere else…but I have been lucky. I can’t believe that three years have gone.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Morrison was not immediately available for comment.
