A pre-action protocol letter is expected to reach the desk of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi on Monday, outlining the intention of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association to legally challenge why some 2,000 Special Reserve Police officers (SRPs) have not been absorbed into the Police Service after waiting as long as 15 years.
The association’s president, Insp Anand Ramesar, said these officers had a legal and legitimate expectation of entering the service but had repeatedly faced several stumbling blocks.
He said at a meeting last month, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon gave the assurance that the SRPs would be absorbed.
The criteria for such appointments, Ramesar said, were also sent to acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams but to date no response had been given.
Among the criteria stated were the length of time someone was an SRP and his or her performance record.
“The SRPs should have been absorbed quite a while ago because there are people who would have made between five to 20 years and still functioning as SRPs and to date they have not experienced any proper terms and conditions of employment,” Ramesar said yesterday.
The officers were frustrated by the inordinate delay, he said, and the matter had also affected their well-being and morale.
“With all intent and purposes I expect this matter to be treated with the utmost urgency. Absorption of SRPs is a Cabinet decision and this was yet to be done,” Ramesar added. Action by the Government would lead to the association altering its intended course of action, he said.
Poor structures in Police Service
The management of the Police Service needs to be held accountable as the association has accused it of not executing its strategic plans, failing to meet its target and failing to match its performance with its mission and vision.
“There is too much dead weight in the administrative structure,” Ramesar said. He also accused the Police Service Commission of being “very lethargic” in measuring performance at the management level.
“When it comes to its function it is the view of a lot of the members that the Police Service Commission is a failure. Nobody knows what is the state of affairs of the selection of a commissioner of police,” Ramesar added.
And with the alarming rate of violent crimes, he said, a manpower audit of the service was long overdue. Ramesar said the current state of affairs was not a true reflection of the ability of the service to counter the prevalence of crime in the country.