Jamaica appoints veteran police commander as new top cop

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ Jamaica has appointed a veteran law enforcement commander to lead its police force.

National Security Minister Peter Bunting announced Monday that Carl Williams will start as police commissioner next week.

Williams led anti-drug efforts from 2000 to 2004. He developed a task force to combat lottery scammers and is the founding director of another police unit tasked with fighting organized crime. The 50-year-old Jamaican joined the police in 1984.

He takes the place of Owen Ellington, whose retirement was announced by the government in late June.

Ellington’s retirement comes ahead of a fact-finding inquiry into the conduct of security forces during a bloody 2010 state of emergency. The government said it would also allow a panel to probe allegations of police killings without “any perception of influence” on his part.

The Associated Press