Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed to retire on November 11

Commissioner of Police (CP) Mohamed Hameed has announced that he will retire on November 11.

In a message to the police's internal media group, CP Hameed said he was preparing to retire from police service next month.

The elected government will be sworn into office on November 17.

In his message, CP Hameed shared some of the challenges he faced when he was dismissed from the police force in 2012 and re-employed in 2018.

He highlighted that after the Supreme Court verdict, even though he rejoined the police force in 2018, he did not want to accept the position of police commissioner due to the controversies surrounding his dismissal from his position.

Hameed said that he had advised President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to appoint candidates like Senior Deputy Commissioner Ibrahim Latheef, who did not have controversies surrounding their reputation, to the position. However, his efforts were unsuccessful, and he had to assume the role of commissioner, he said.

Hameed said that when he assumed the role of commissioner, the reputation of the police department had been tarnished. He had to work to unite the senior officers. Despite differences of opinion and attempts to remove him from his position, he put personal conflicts aside and collaborated with the senior officers for the betterment of the institution.

He said efforts had been made to make the police service publicly acceptable, and an institution that works in line with the demands of the people.

Hameed joined the police force at the age of 17. He was dismissed from his position in 2012 on the accusation that he had leaked confidential information regarding former President Mohamed Nasheed’s short-lived presidency. At that time, he was the head of the intelligence department.

Regarding his dismissal, in 2018, the Supreme Court ordered Hameed to be reinstated in the police force. Following the verdict, he was reinstated in the police and promoted to the position of Deputy Commissioner of Police. Then, until he was officially appointed as Commissioner of Police in 2019, he held the responsibilities of the Acting Commissioner of Police.