Former COP named first director of intelligence agency

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Former Commissioner of Police Anthony has been named as the first director of the National Crime Intelligence Agency.

National Security Minister Marvin Dames announced the appointment in Parliament on Wednesday, nearly a year on since he signaled the government was considering Ferguson for a special post. 

“We understand the importance of such an agency to any country’s national security and we are taking a very methodical approach to ensure this agency can develop into an agency that all Bahamians can be proud of,” Dames said during his presentation to the 2021/2022 budget debate.

The government introduced the National Crime Intelligence Agency Act in 2019, “with the objective of enhancing the security of The Bahamas”.

NCIA is the premonitory agency responsible for gathering, analyzing, coordinating, disseminating, and reflecting the complex overlapping of both domestic and international security issues.

NCIA also seeks to establish channels of communication with overseas intelligence agencies for the promotion and exchange of information to advance the safety of our nation.

Dames congratulated Ferguson on the appointment, praising him as “a man with the highest degree of integrity and respect, both locally and internationally”.

“We know that he will represent us well,” he said.

Ferguson was appointed in October 2017, succeeding Ellison Greenslade, who served as commissioner since January 2010 and was appointed as Bahamas High Commissioner to the United Kingdom in November 2017.

He stepped down as police commissioner in late March 2020 as he was approaching 60-years-old — the age of retirement for officers.

He has served on the force for nearly 40 years since joining the organization in 1980.

During his tenure on the force, Ferguson has served as supervisor of the Sexual Offences and Serious Crime Squads of the Criminal Investigations Department head of the Central Detective Unit, the Homicide Squad, and the Drug Enforcement Unit.

Under the former commissioner, The Bahamas saw declines in overall crime, and the murder count reduced in 2018 and 2019 to fewer than 100 — the first in almost a decade.

Paul Rolle, the former deputy commissioner, was sworn in as the country’s eighth commissioner of police.