Three months after he returned to active duty, Clayton Fernander will become the new Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He will replace Loretta Mackey.
Fernander returned to the force in September after being sent on forced vacation leave then reassigned to the Ministry of Health under the Minnis Administration.
In 2019, Fernander, ACP Leamond Deleveaux and ACP Ken Strachan were asked to take their many weeks of accumulated vacation.
They were then reassigned to different government entities with no clear set of instructions.
On March 1, Fernander received a letter informing him that his deployment was extended by a year and seven months.
The new promotion is vindication for Fernander who said he felt disrespected by being placed on leave.
“I pray to God that what has happened to us, myself, ACP Strachan, and ACP Deleveaux, I pray to God that it never happens to none of my colleagues – the disrespect.
“I pray to God that that never, never happens,” he said.
In 2013, Fernander was shot multiple times in the arm and upper body when two masked gunmen confronted him shortly after he pulled up to his home in the St Vincent Road area.
Fernander was armed at the time, but was not able to return fire.
Fernander joined the Royal Bahamas Police Force in 1982.