THE POLICE High Command is denying a Sunday Gleaner report that Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Paul Robinson has been replaced at the police armoury.

In a statement released yesterday, acting Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington suggested that the decision to place ACP Donald Pusey in charge of the Firearms and Tactical Training Unit (FTTU) was long in coming.

"As early as mid-last year, the Police High Command started discussions on a possible replacement for ACP Paul Robinson, who is the officer in charge of the JCF's Firearms and Tactical Training Unit (FTTU)," Ellington said.

"These discussions were occasioned after ACP Robinson indicated to the high command that he would not be renewing his contract with the Government of Jamaica which ends in April of this year."

Succession-planning strategy

Ellington said the High Command, as part of its succession-planning strategy, sought to identify suitable candidates to fill the post of head of the unit.

"A number of officers were interviewed in order to find the most suitable to fill the position, including another ACP, Donald Pusey. The High Command is yet to make a final decision on who will succeed ACP Robinson as head of the FTTU."

Ellington said reports that Robinson had been stripped of his responsibilities as the officer in charge of the FTTU were false.

He also stressed that links between changes in Robinson's duties and the recent weapons find at Munster Road in St Andrew were unwarranted.

"Further, ACP Robinson's responsibilities as the officer in charge of the FTTU do not, nor have ever included any supervisory or any other form of management control of the Police Armoury and Stores," he said.