~ It was logical, says Chief Inspector ~

PHILIPSBURG--Police Chief Inspector Dafnis Franscisca took vacation about two months early to allow the Central Government to appoint a new head of Judicial Affairs for the Windward Island Police Force KPSSS.

Franscisca, who headed KPSSS in Acting Chief Commissioner Ademar Doran's absence, said leaving was the "logical" thing to do. He was scheduled to retire after June. "I never had it in my head to stay on," Fransisca told The Daily Herald.

The 40-year veteran was rumoured to have been pressured by, among other groups, the police union to leave early. But union NAPB denied trying to force Franscica out of the force.

Franscisca said Friday he and Antillean Justice Minister Magali Jacoba agreed that he would leave earlier than planned so that a new person could take his place on the police's management team.

This newspaper could not reach Minister Jacoba for comment Friday.

"It's logical that I don't stay in the same position any longer," Franscisca said, insisting that he left on his own. "Someone else cannot sit there, if I'm still there."

NAPB vice president Philbert Llewellyn said the union could only support retirement-age officers staying on as advisors or consultants. He said they should all take on twinning roles - being shadow mentors to younger officers who they train to take over. "NAPB is not against anybody who is above 60; that's not how it is," Llewellyn said, adding, "[The person] has to be of value...to police."

Franscica assured this newspaper that he neither has nor intends to ask the Justice Minister for an extension to his contract term.

The Central Government has appointed a committee to evaluate requests for three vacancies on the police's management team. The Minister told this newspaper in interviews this week that she expects a short-list of two candidates to head the corps as chief commissioner, head of General Affairs, and head of Judicial Affairs.

They hope to appoint new top officers by April 1.