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Will Aragon Shake Up Senior Command?
posted (October 28, 2016)
And while the Ministers have changed, the COMPOL has remained the same. Allen Whylie has been commissioner since 2013 and from the looks of things he's not going anywhere. We say that because there appears to be some kind of logjam at the post of Assistant Commissioner where there are currently no less than eight Assistant Commissioners. We asked Aragon about the Top Cop spot, and he was slightly evasive:...

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"The commissioner's post - is that something that you are as the minister prepared to look at and review that perhaps there is new leadership needed in the department?"

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Minister of Police
"Jules I am here for what is best for the police department, and like is aid at the end of the day I will hold everybody accountable."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"Respectfully, you didn't really answer my question insofar as, is that a post that you would be looking at, obviously the murder rate that's the crime you spoke about - murders are up his year, murders were up last year. is this a problem that we are having with leadership - that there is ineffective leadership of the Police Department? Is that something that you would be prepare to look at?"

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Minister of Police
"Jules we have to look at everything. Because at the end of the day if we're going to get the job done then we have to ensure that we have the right people in the right positions. But I will tell you right now if you look at our major crime from 2009 to 2016, you can't say that we're not bringing down major crimes. The problems in those is always the murders which is always an issue that we have to look on. And it's not an easy problem Jules."

"The point is that of course we have to look at these things, and I as the minister here responsible for the police, will look at it on a whole and see that we make the right fit, for what will make this department effective."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"I am sure you are aware that many major crimes depend on reporting such as rape. There may be fewer rapes reported including burglary, because people, for whatever reason lose confidence in the department - for whatever reason - and don't report it."

"I am saying that if all major crimes are trending yet murder is trending up, isn't that then an indication that perhaps it might be a decrease in reporting major crime?"

Hon. Elodio Aragon, Minister of Police
"Jules now you are talking about the "dark figure" of crime and if you had studied criminology, you'll know that in all our statistics there's always some of what you call the dark figure of crime."

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