Published 23 July 2020
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
HE ROYAL ST. CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS POLICE FORCE MOURNS THE PASSING OF FORMER ACTING COMMISSIONER OF POLICE JOSEPH FRANCIS
Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 23, 2020 (RSCNPF): The High Command and rank and file of The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force is mourning the loss of former Acting Commissioner of Police, Joseph Francis. He passed away on Monday, July 20, 2020.
He acted as Commissioner of Police from 1979 to 1980, but served in law enforcement with honour and distinction for just over 25 years. He was recruited at the age of 19 and first served with the Leeward Islands Police Force.
Commissioner of Police Hilroy Brandy has expressed his condolences to the family of the late Joseph Francis on behalf of the Force. He noted his significant contribution to policing in the Federation and the Leeward Islands. Commissioner Brandy disclosed that from what he has learned of the former Acting Commissioner, his dedication to service was admirable and truly a model for other Officers to emulate.
Joseph F. C. Francis was born on December 21, 1937, in the village of Tabernacle to Mary Elizabeth Charles and William Francis, a manager at Bellevue Estate. His mother predeceased his father when Joseph was 19 months old. He was raised by his maternal Grandmother Annie Charles and his four older sisters.
As he grew into a young man, he completed his education at 16 years old and began teaching at the local school in tabernacle where he taught for three years. At age 19, he applied for and gained admission to the then St. Christopher, Nevis and Anguilla Royal Police Force. As a young recruit, he attended the Barbados Regional Police Training Centre (RPTC) where he graduated top of his class. His first assignment following training was at the Leeward Islands Police Headquarters in Antigua. While stationed in Antigua, he took every opportunity to learn and advance in his law enforcement career. His superiors recognized his potential and sent him to Scotland Yard for training where he excelled. While in England, he attended the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall where he studied the flute and saxophone. He did so well in his time at Scotland Yard that he was recognized in the British national newspaper The Times for his outstanding academic performance. The Times profile piece would eventually lead to another career development.
Following his training in the UK, Mr. Francis returned to Antigua where his list of accomplishments continued to grow. As Antigua and Barbuda prepared for Statehood, as conductor of the Police band, he took the band to every school in Antigua to practice the national anthem with the school children. Similarly, each Sunday afternoon saw the band in a different village locale playing hymns for the denizens. The capstone of his service in Antigua was his establishing of the first credit union for police on the island. The credit union was a successful financial institution up to the time he returned to St. Kitts in 1971. Robert L. Bradshaw, the then Premier of St. Kitts and Nevis, had read The Times profile piece and flew to Antigua to ask Antiguan Premier V.C. Bird to relieve Mr. Francis of his position so he could join the police force in St. Kitts. It took some convincing from Mr. Bradshaw for Mr. Bird to concede, but in the end Mr. Francis made the decision to return to St. Kitts because that was where his beloved grandmother was and he wanted to be there to take care of her.
Serving for the first time in a law enforcement capacity in his home country of St. Kitts, Mr. Francis was stationed in Sandy Point where he remained for a few months before being sent to Nevis to head up the Police force. His time there also marked a high-point in his career when he collaborated with Scotland Yard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on a grand-scale murder investigation. His years in Nevis were few before he was transferred back to St. Kitts in 1974 and was placed in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). It was a bittersweet time. The citizens were upset that he was being transferred, but Mr. Francis was in line for a promotion. He often recalled living and working in Nevis with fondness. Chief-of-Police, Lynch Wade subsequently promoted him to Superintendent of Police in St. Kitts. In his promotion letter to Mr. Francis, Mr. Wade wrote “…[I] look forward to you seeing you reach the zenith of this noble career. Never get tired in well doing and treat the two impostors of Triumph and Disaster just the same.” Similarly, many years later, Commandant Hensley of Scotland Yard, while visiting the island on a cruise ship, sought Mr. Francis out, when he was the Acting Police Commissioner, at police headquarters to say, “I knew you would reach the top of your profession.”
Mr. Francis’ accolades and accomplishments in law enforcement were many including receiving the Colonial Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1978 from His Excellency Sir Probyn Inniss. He worked with the Joint Narcotics Strike Task Force of the U. S. Virgin Islands. He was the first Kittitian to ascend through the police ranks from recruit to Acting Commissioner. In March 1982, at age 45, he retired from the St. Kitts and Nevis Police Force and migrated to New York. Although he was no longer a uniformed police officer, he remained true to the honor and integrity of his beloved profession. He took Chief Lynch Wade’s promotion letter advice to heart.
In New York, Mr. Francis sought out a career in security and held several Chief of Security positions including at the International Design Center of New York (IDCNY) and Rochdale Village Inc., a 120-acre housing cooperative with 25,000 plus residents in Queens, New York. While he was Chief of Security of Rochdale, Mr. Francis worked diligently to ensure a harmonious relationship with the residents of Rochdale Village and the 113th Police Precinct, located on the edge of Rochdale. He retired from Rochdale in 2001 and made a career shift to entrepreneurial pursuits. Being self-employed freed him up to give more time to his other interests. He had a beautiful tenor voice which he used to glorify God as a member of the St. John’s United Methodist Church choir in Valley Stream, NY and prior to that the Wesley Methodist Church choir in St. Kitts. He was a dog lover and especially loved big dogs. He was known to say, “If you have a dog, you have a true friend.”
Joseph Francis was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. He fought valiantly for 11 years while under the treatment of his Oncology team at New York University Hospital. His wife Ingrid, a retired Registered Nurse, lovingly cared for him at home in the latter years. After a brief hospitalization, he died on Monday, March 20, 2020 with his wife by his side.
