NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Assistant Commissioner of Police Leamond Deleveaux reported for duty last week Sunday after completing a 12-month deployment at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, but was advised to await instructions.
He is the second senior officer to report for duty following the completion of special assignments, which began in January 2020.
Eyewitness News reported earlier this month that Assistant Commissioner Clayton Fernander reported for duty on January 27, but was reportedly advised by the commissioner that the attorney general would be consulted on the matter of his return.
He had been deployed to the Ministry of Health.
Attorney Wayne Munroe, QC, who represents Deleveaux and Fernander, said he believes the decorated men will give the Royal Bahamas Police Force a “reasonable amount of time” to determine how it will proceed, and “see what, in fact, they do”.
“Technically, your employer can tell you ‘go home, we don’t need you to do anything’, so long as they pay you,” he said.
“Now, that becomes an expensive proposition because you’re paying me, I have all of my benefits and I don’t have to work.
“In fact, for most of us, that’s perfect.
“I had a client who was a Ministry of Education teacher who couldn’t teach in the classroom because she couldn’t stand up for long periods, and we sent them (the respective ministry) the medical advice.
“Every time they would try to talk about ‘terminate her’ and we point out that they couldn’t, they told her to just go on leave. She was on leave for four years…being paid a full salary for not working.
“That’s basically what’s happening with these two [men].”
Fernander and Deleveaux have extensive experience of the force, having climbed up the ranks of the organization over more than three decades.
Asked if the pair was prepared to remain on leave, Munroe said while the men cannot force the commissioner or the government to allow them to work, they wish to serve
“Eventually, they may take the position that they want to move, and then we will go to court, but that’s a judgment on them,” he said.
“…All of them want to get back to work.”
Munroe also represents Assistant Commissioner Ken Strachan, whom the force sought to transfer on special assignment to the Willie Mae Pratt and Simpson Penn centers.
But he argued the transfer amounted to a dismissal and a demotion, and was unlawful.
Strachan, who joined the force in 1991 and became an assistant superintendent in 2017, took legal action.
According to Munroe, the matter is progressing before the courts and has recently reached case management.
The queen’s counsel added that Strachan also wishes to return to work.
