Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin

First he was out, then he was in. Jamaica’s Commissioner of Police, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, resigned on Monday, June 2 after just 169 days in office, but by the next day he was back on the job.

In a letter of resignation submitted to the Police Services Commission, Lewin admitted that he had failed to perform as the island’s top cop, did not have the full support of the rank-and-file members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), and therefore felt it was best that he go.

The initial decision came after two weeks of unabated violence in which several Jamaicans were murdered. The country's murder rate up to the day Lewin resigned stood at 687. May was the bloodiest in the island's history with 197 persons killed.

Lewin’s announced departure immediately caused reaction all across the country and the issue dominated radio and television talk shows.

But Prime Minister Bruce Golding seemed not to want the former Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) official, to walk away. So he summoned Lewin, officials from the Police Services Commission and the Minister of National Security to a meeting.

By Tuesday, the Commissioner had a change of heart and Golding announced in Parliament that Lewin had withdrawn his resignation and would remain at the helm of the police force. He also gave the assurance that Lewin had the full backing of the government and that the resources of the combined security forces were being fully mobilised to wage a “vigorous and sustained initiative to restore safety to our streets and communities, to apprehend criminals, dismantle the criminal gangs and recover illegal guns”.

Lewin became Police Commissioner on December 17, 2007, after the then commissioner, Lucius Thomas, resigned from the post.