By Shermain Bique-Charles
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Albert Wade has apparently extended an olive branch to Prime Minister Gaston Browne by apologising for statements he made during a heated meeting last week.
Minister of Information Melford Nicholas told media on Thursday that Wade had met with PM Browne and offered an apology for what he considered “to be a slip in judgement, and the prime minister accepted his apology, so I think this put an end to the matter”.
During a meeting of the Police Welfare Association last week Wade told fellow officers that “50-something years, we’ve been waiting for stations to be built but if you’d love yourself, you would not be at those stations. We saw a school built over there in months; the former education building refurbished in months; the Treasury building on High Street refurbished in months”.
Following the statement which went viral, Prime Minister Browne said Wade had “stepped out of line big time”, and that “the national security of a country is sacrosanct, and the success of the police force is predicated on the discipline, the loyalty and commitment of its members to serve and protect the people, especially senior members to maintain the safety and security of the citizenry”.
He said further that no senior officer should lose his marbles to the extent that he is prepared to join any individual or group of individuals to compromise the national security of the state.
“The type of impudence we have seen — let me call his name — from Deputy Commissioner Wade, is extremely egregious and I think it’s a matter of national security to the extent that I don’t wish to go any further,” Browne added.
Wade was then summoned to a meeting with the prime minister, during which he apparently made his apology.
Yesterday, Observer tried without success to reach DCP Wade. Several calls to his mobile phone, along with WhatsApp messages, went unanswered up to press time.