Roles and Responsibilities of the Deputy Commissioner of Police

Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 20, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): Newly appointed Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cromwell Henry outlined the roles and responsibilities of his office during his appearance on ZIZ radio’s programme “Policing with You” on Thursday (April 20, 2023).

He said that police training and the discipline of officers fall under his purview.

“Deputy Commissioner is responsible for training in the organization. And so, the training school falls directly under the Deputy Commissioner responsibility. He is also responsible for discipline in the organization, and so the Professional Standards Unit would fall under his area of responsibility, responsible for community policing and media relations and so those areas would fall under the responsibility of the Deputy Commissioner.”

Henry also outlined the responsibility of the Deputy Commissioner which includes developing and implementing policies and procedures in the police force.

“Deputy Commissioner responsible for developing and implementing policies and procedures for the police force. Of course, in collaboration with the Commissioner of Police and the, the other senior leadership that we call the High Command, so the deputy responsible for leading that charge of the development and the implementation of policies and procedures. He’s also responsible for ensuring that the police force operates in compliance with the relevant laws, regulations, and policies. So, once you would’ve established these policies, of course we have a set of laws that govern our conduct, then responsible for ensuring that the force operate within these parameters, responsible for developing and maintaining positive relationship with other law enforcement agencies, we have other law enforcement agencies in the federation. We have immigration customs, Defense Force not a law enforcement, but it’s a security agency.”

Other responsibilities include acting in the absence of the Commissioner of Police and representing the police force in meetings with the media and community organizations etc.