Jamaica’s 29th Commissioner of Police George Quallo began his tour of duty yesterday from as early as 6:30 am, when he arrived at his office on Old Hope Road in St Andrew.
The commissioner’s first task was to chair a meeting of his senior officers after which he held several other meetings with police officers of varying ranks and with others from outside of the police force.
When the Observer spoke with Commissioner Quallo close to 5:00 pm yesterday, he had just completed another meeting and was in the process of preparing to attend a function later in the evening.
“As you are aware, I came in very early this morning and immediately met with some of my senior officers,” he said.
“That meeting, as well as all the others today, went very well, and over the next few days my aim is to deal with some pressing internal matters as well as other issues which may come up,” Commissioner Quallo said.
The new commissioner was, however, reluctant to speak on other pressing concerns, saying that he needed time to put things into perspective and to let the men and women in the constabulary know exactly what he wants to be done and what his thinking was.
“I know and fully understand that there are matters which need very urgent attention and they are going to be dealt with by myself and others. My officers are working on the ground dealing with the issues at hand, so there will be no disruption of police activities.
“However, at this stage, I am not going to get into specifics.
“I am going to lay out my vision and my plans to deal with the relevant matters in my first communication with the people during the formal investiture ceremony, which will be announced shortly.
“As soon as possible after the ceremony, I will be holding a press conference with representatives of the media, to add, qualify or simply explain to them and the nation my thinking and how I plan to go about things,” Quallo indicated while further adding that as much as possible he wanted to not talk much until he had a chance to consult in order to find the best possible way forward.
Quallo got the nod from the Police Service Commission last week to replace Dr Carl Williams, who retired at the beginning of January. Deputy Commissioner of Police Novelette Grant acted in the commissioner’s post shortly after Williams’ retirement to the time when Quallo was officially confirmed as the top cop.
