Another burning issue we asked Williams about is the lawsuit that one of his deputy commissioners of police has brought against the Security Services Commission. Deputy Bart Jones is suing the Commission telling them that the promotion of his fellow deputy Richard Rosado was premature. He is seeking judicial review asking the court to change Rosado's effective date of appointment - which would make him the less senior deputy.
It may seem petty - but the prime positioning next top cop could be determined by this jostling.
And, it is widely felt that the current Commissioner has a favorite in this contest and it's not Richard Rosado. We asked him about it today:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well we have to understand that we are living in a more litigious society. We have more and more lawyers. In some case, some have nothing to do. People are more educated, they know their rights and based on that we are seeing litigations taking place even for things that in the past people would not even dare bother to litigate. As a citizen of this country and as a police officer Mr. Jones do have a right if he feels that his rights have been violated or he was unfairly dealt with in a certain manner - he have a right to take the matter before the courts and let the courts decide on whether or not his claim is one that has merits or if it is frivolous or vexatious. I can tell you that working with both Mr. Jones and Mr. Rosado, they seem to have a very good working relationship in terms of respecting each other. I don't see any animosity between them and I expect moving forward that is going to be the case. Whatever the outcome of the case is going to be, we're not going to allow that to distract us."
Reporter
"Do you support him taking this matter to court, considering reports are that you've always opposed Dr. Rosado's promotion?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"How do you even conceive that foolish thought in your head? - I have always oppose Dr. Rosado's promotion? How do you get there?"
"I don't know if you have proof of that, but certainly, I was the one who wrote the recommendation for Dr. Rosado promotion and when your news director had interviewed me in February of 2022 following Mr. Rosado's promotion, I had said to him that I support Mr. Rosado's promotion. So, I don't know how you arrived at me opposing his promotion? I have no axe to grind between the 2 gentlemen. I have no difficulty working with both of them. As a matter of fact, as a captain of the ship, I am the one who have to make sure that we stay together and I always believe in choosing peace over violence and unity or division."
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