MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The kingdom of Bahrain has replaced a former Miami police chief with a senior British officer as chief to reform law enforcement.
Since bloody pro-democracy demonstrations began in February, the country of 1.2 million people complained of police heavy-handedness and the government hired John Timoney, a former police chief in Miami with past policing careers in Philadelphia and New York.
However, a 500-page government review last week said human rights abuses still existed, and the decision was made to replace Timoney with John Yates, a former assistant commissioner of Britain's Metropolitan Police, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Yates resigned earlier this year amid the News of the World newspaper's telephone hacking scandal. He has since been cleared of any wrongdoing in the investigation.
He told the Telegraph he considered Timoney a "great reforming police officer" and said he would make reforming the ranks his top priority.
"I look forward to speaking to Bahrain's chief police officers, going out with them on the streets to see the challenges they face, seeing what structures they have in place and helping them to deal better with public order, arrest and detention issues," he said.
During the uprising, at least 13 protesters were killed and 3,000 were detained in the nation composed of 33 islands.
