The Commissioner of the North Borneo Police Force was the Police Commissioner of the North Borneo Police Force, serving a dual function as commanding officer of the only military and police force in the country. Before 1950, this position was served by the Commandant of the North Borneo Armed Constabulary, and before 1926, it was known as the Commandant of the British North Borneo Constabulary.
When North Borneo was its own country, managed entirely by the North Borneo Chartered Company, the Commandants of the Constabulary were appointed by and served at the pleasure of the Governor of North Borneo, who served as the Commander-in-chief of the country, and the Company's court of directors in London.
After the Second World War, North Borneo became the Crown Colony of North Borneo. The Constabulary was re-established in 1946, and then re-badged in 1950 as the North Borneo Police Force. The Commissioners of the North Borneo Police Force here served at the pleasure of the Governor and The Crown, laterally reporting to the chiefs of the Colonial Office and the Colonial Police Service.
Commandants of the British North Borneo Constabulary
British North Borneo No.PortraitBeginEndNameRef.118811883Arthur Montgomery Harington–18831883William James Foley–18837 June 1883Edward Peregrine Gueritz27 June 188317 May 1885Alexander Mortier de Fontaine–17 May 1885June 1885William Raffles Flint3?14 June 1886John Smith–March 1887March 1887William Raffles Flint4August 1886August 1889Robert Dudley Beeston5August 1889November 1896Edward Algernon Barnett–November 1896February 1897William Raffles Flint68 February 18971899John Murray Reddie7April 189931 May 1926Charles H. Harington
Commandants of the North Borneo Armed Constabulary
No.PortraitBeginEndNameRef.81 June 192615 April 1931Henry Stanley Bond916 April 193116 May 1942 Wilfrid Carne Cole-Adams
World War II
**Wilfrid Carne Adams was the brother of Bernard Randall Cole-Adams, who was killed in the camps.**
During the Second World War, the Constabulary was split in function. While technically under the command of the Imperial Japanese Kempeitai, the Japanese secret police force – the continuity of government was maintained because all of the government administrators of the colony were interred in the same prisoner of war camps in Borneo in the initial phases of the war. Governor Charles Robert Smith was able to secretly maintain complete command and control over the Constabulary until the plot was discovered, and Lionel Matthews was executed by the Japanese. Japanese North Borneo From 1 April 1942 to 10 June 1945.No.PortratBeginEndNameRef. –1 April 194210 June 1945Tatsuji Suga –1 April 194210 June 1945Kempeitai British Armed Forces No.PortraitBeginEndNameRef.?September 1942January 1943Alan Rice-Oxley?January 19432 March 1944Lionel Matthews
Postwar Reconstruction Era After the war, the British Military Administration (Borneo) organized the re-structuring of the former countries and colonies of British Borneo. They established police headquarters at the Humphrey Street Police Station in Jesselton. British Military Administration of Borneo (1945–1946) No.PortraitBeginEndNameRef.????
Postwar North Borneo Crown Colony of North Borneo (1946–1950) No.PortraitBeginEndNameRef.???Alan Rice-Oxley?19471950John Bartholomew Atkinson
Commissioners of the North Borneo Police Force
Crown Colony of North Borneo No.ImageBeginEndNameRef.119501960John Bartholomew Atkinson219601963Donald Matheson Sabah State Royal Malaysia Police Force1963 – 1965119631964Donald Matheson–?March 20, 1964E. O. "Chip" Plunkett2?1965Roy Henry
References