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PAUL TAWIAH Quaye, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), yesterday handed over the baton to his deputy, Mohamed Alhassan, in a rather low key fashion amidst mixed feelings at the Police Headquarters. The eighteenth IGP had to retire due to his attainment of the compulsory retirement age of 60 by May. The appointment of Mohamed Alhassan to the position of acting IGP by President John Dramani Mahama automatically makes Commissioner of Police Rose Bio Atinga the second in command of the Ghana Police Service. This makes her the second woman to hold that prestigious position after Mrs. Elizabeth Mills-Robertson. Paul Quaye rose through the profession to become the Commissioner in Charge of Research and Planning before his appointment as the Inspector General of Police on May 16, 2009, as the eighteenth IGP, aside some 11 commissioners of police (commissioner of police used to be the topmost position in the GPS from 1893-1966). After serving his term dutifully and injecting certain key reforms into the service, he retired yesterday, February 4, 2013 with no significant ceremony. Even though a section of the media had treated the president�s announcement of his retirement as though he was sacked, sources close to power and the Police Administration indicated that Paul Quaye had declined an offer to stay on until a substantive successor was appointed, on grounds that he needed to set a good example to enable others to follow. Sources hinted that the top hierarchy was crowded with persons who should have retired to give opportunity to others. Mohamed Alhassan is likely to attain the compulsory retirement age of 60 by January 2014. The argument now is whether or not he would be confirmed as the substantive IGP, considering the few months he has to serve. Paul Tawiah Quaye, during his tenure, was adjudged the Most Efficient and Effective in West Africa by the West Africa Nobles forum in Accra in May 2011. He was a proficient systems administrator with enormous experience in policing formulation, strategic human asset management and organizational change planning. Paul Quaye is also credited with a lot of accomplishments which include the designing and developing of the Ghana Police website in 2003, and computerization of financial and administration software including mechanized payroll processing for the service in 1994. It was also during his tenure that the service had a boom in their salaries. Most police sources said Paul Quaye had been a great inspiration to them. They said with his five-year strategic policy, most of them had benefited from his training and retraining programmes which had boosted the confidence and image of the service. His instituting the IGP�s reward system, which rewarded informants, helped in the fight against robbery. This, according to one of the commanders, had been the service�s secret in minimizing armed robbery in the country, especially in the big cities throughout the country. The 2012 December elections have also been acclaimed by many as one of the best as far as security was concerned.