New leadership row brewing in Police Federation
Published:Friday | December 4, 2020 | 12:29 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
Trouble appears to brewing within the leadership of the Jamaica Police Federation, with a storm gathering against the election of Corporal Rohan James as chairman on Wednesday.
James defeated Sergeant David Bogle, who may launch a legal challenge, it has emerged.
The new chairman told The Gleaner that he was unaware of any issue with the election process.
“I have not been privy to such information. I have been in office all day and have not been privy to that information,” he said of the looming court challenge.
James said that he was looking forward to hitting the ground running.
“My first call of duty is to ensure that I realign my strategic priorities and objectives and ensure that my team members are properly placed, so that I can materialise the strategic objectives and priorities, especially as this year is a very packed year in terms of activities that we must achieve in short order,” he said.
Bogle, when contacted on Thursday, declined to comment.
The chairmanship became vacant after Patrae Rowe was promoted to the rank of inspector.
Since then, general secretary of the federation, Detective Constable Tamecia Thomas, has been acting in the role of chairman, The Gleaner understands.
When contacted on Thursday for the vote tally, Thomas said only that James came out victorious and that he “got the majority of the votes” among an eight-member executive committee.
The election is governed by Section 67 of the Constabulary Force Act.
In a previous leadership tussle, the High Court had ruled against former chairman Corporal Arleen McBean, who claimed that Rowe and Inspector Sheldon Gordon illegally removed her from the federation chairmanship.
When the claim was filed in March 2019, the Supreme Court had granted an injunction, leading to McBean being reinstated as chairman of the federation, which represents rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
But in a judgment handed down last June, Justice Leighton Pusey made three orders against the former Police Federation chairman.
The court struck down the claim against Rowe and Gordon.
McBean was also ordered to pay the defendants’ legal costs.