Fitial said changes have to be made to give room for more improvements.
“When we decide to make changes, it is for the good of the government. I did not say that [Santiago F.] Tudela lacked in his performance as DPS commissioner, but I believe that Mafnas can do more in terms of improving the department,” the governor added.
He noted that it was Tudela’s decision to step down.
Mafnas will be the fifth DPS commissioner of the five-year-old Fitial administration as soon as his nomination is confirmed by the Senate.
Fitial said no final decision has been made yet as to who will replace Mafnas as Department of Corrections commissioner.
Ernest M. Williams, a military policeman and U.S. Army paratrooper, was the governor’s first DPS commissioner.
Appointed in Feb. 2006, he was fired in April 2006 after the DPS command staff complained about how he ran the department.
Then-Assistant Attorney General Rebecca Warfield replaced Williams but she returned to the AG’s Office in March 2008 and former Police Maj. Clyde K. Norita succeeded her as DPS chief.
But Norita was fired in Aug. 2008 and in a “farewell” letter to DPS personnel, he thanked “Mr. [Ramon] Mafnas for fanatically pushing for my removal….”
Norita was replaced by Santiago F. Tudela who had already retired after serving as DPS commissioner in the Babauta administration.
