POLICE PUT ON FUNCTION AND SEE BATON CHANGE
RUNAWAY BAY, St Ann; April 3, 2025
The recent head of the St Ann Police Dwight Powell has been transferred to the office of Assistant Commissioner in Charge of Administration for the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Acting ACP Powell was feted at a farewell function organized by senior officers and held at the Holiday Haven Hotel, Runaway Bay on Monday, March 31, 2025
Acting ACP Powell says he has fond memories of St Ann and will miss the people including his colleagues but must serve where he is called. He said the experience of leaving was “bittersweet”. Acting ACP Powell says he is happy that the St Ann Police division is in the capable hands of Deputy Superintendent Rohan Elliott. He says there are still challenges but with the improved relations between the police and residents of the parish, more successes were ahead.
(ACP Powell at left handing over command of St Ann to Acting SSP Rohan Elliott)
In an interview with the North Coast Times, Acting ACP Powell said: “St Ann is very dear to me. I did my best there and it was successful.” Up to March 31, there were 12 murders in the parish compared to 22 for the same period last year. Murders and some serious crimes were down in 2024 compared to 2023.
Mr Powell took up his new position in the Commissioner’s Office on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
He had served for just over four years in St Ann, on the third of his stints in the parish. While in charge of St Ann police, Acting ACP Powell had, on occasion, acted in command of Area 2 police.
( Acting ACP Powell saying farewell)
At the function, Mr Powell handed over command to DSP Rohan Elliott, the acting SSP St Ann Division. They used a baton, in the fashion of runners in a relay, to do the symbolic changeover of command.
(New head of police in St Ann Acting SSP Rohan Elliott)
The function was attended by a number of stakeholders from the civic, business, religious, and community levels. Among them were Radcliffe and Norma Walters, Custos emeritus and former custos; Dr. Carl Archer, president of North Jamaica Conference of Seventh Day Adventists; Senior Parish Judge John Pyne; Senior Clerk of Courts Mischa Anderson; and Dr. Ransford Davidson, president of St. Ann Chambers of Commerce.
(Portfolio officers, station and section commanders of the St Ann police stand with Mr Powell as a portrait is handed to him by DSP Stacy Ann Bogle)
Among the senior police officers in attendance were: Deputy Supt of Police in charge of administration Stacy-Ann Bogle, who was a lead member of the team putting the farewell function together; Officer i/c Operations, DSP Damion Jarrette; Officer i/c of crime for Area 2, Acting Superintendent Norman Hamilton.
(Inspector Debbie Bowen-Jones stands between incoming head of St Ann police Acring SSP Rohan Elliott, left, and outgoing head, Acting ACP Dwight Powell)
The three leaders of the police zones for the parish were also in attendance they are: DSP Kevon Chambers, Zone 1; DSP Roshelle McGibbon Scott, who chaired the function, Zone 2; and Asst Supt Andre Quest, Zone 3.
DSP Bogle said it was necessary to organize the farewell not only because there was a custom in sending of the head of police but also, “We think he led the division well. He inspired and motivated the team to give of their best that accounted for the drop in [serious] crime,” last year and so far this year.
