ASP Mark Vidal - he's led the GSU since it was formed in October of 2010 - but, tonight, official reports says he's on the way out.
Press Officer for the Ministry of National Security Delroy Cuthkelvin today told us via text message that Vidal should be going to Special Branch as the second in command.
Cuthkelvin tells us that Superintendent Dennis Arnold will be taking over the GSU. Arnold is presently the second in command at Special Branch, so they will be trading places.
Sounds straightforward enough, but Vidal says he knows nothing about it. He told us that he has not received any letter of transfer - and added that he will probably be the last to know.
If it goes through, it would be a dramatic change because Vidal designed the GSU himself, based on gang interdiction training he received from the US. It is a unit unlike any other in the police department: it is self-contained, housed separately from the police department, and staffed with a handpicked cadre of police officers.
To a great extent, the unit has also taken on Vidal's personality, no nonsense and uncompromising which has simultaneously earned it high praise, mass condemnation and scoldings from politicians. But while Cuthkelvin is the Ministry's PR and he says the transfer is going through - late this evening, Vidal told us quote, "there is no move afoot to remove me as Commander of the GSU. I am sure of this." End quote.
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