Tobago’s Assistant Commissioner of police (ACP) Collis Hazel and acting Senior Superintendent Rodhill Kirk—have been reassigned to Trinidad.
Hazel will now be in charge of the Police Service’s tactical unit and will be head of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) and Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB).
Kirk, according to reports, is set to be transferred to the Southern Division.
The transfers take effect from October.
The officers have been in charge of policing in Tobago for more than a year.
Kirk, in an interview with the Express, said his realignment within the Police Service was nothing new and he remained committed to the task at hand.
“If the administration sees it fit to reassign me in another place within the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, as much as I would have liked to continue what I started, being a Tobagonian, being a person who knows the ground in Tobago, they see it fit to give me another assignment. We know in the TTPS no appointment is permanent in any place. The service in light of resources would tend to move you around from time to time,” Kirk said.
The transfer of Tobago’s two top police officers comes as gun crimes have surged on the island, with an unprecedented murder toll of 22 for the year so far.
Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said the transfers were timely and augured well for Tobago’s crime fight.
He noted: “When the National Security Council met in Tobago on July 9, a decision was taken to begin moving around members of the TTPS in order to remove the curse of complacency and, in Tobago’s case specifically, to eradicate the contempt bred by familiarity. This is just that decision materialising after two months. I want to express gratitude to Mr Hazel and Mr Kirk for their tireless efforts in the fight against crime in Tobago. I wish them success in their future endeavours.”
He added: “Mr Hazel’s new posting as head of the TTPS’ tactical unit will place him as head of IATF and GEB and that means he will continue to have a crucial role to play in Tobago’s war against crime.”