Former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC) Prof Emeritus Ramesh Deosaran says the acting appointments of this country’s Police Commissioner is “an undue embarrassment and quite likely, a record heading for the Guinness World Book of Records.”
It’s been almost three years, he said, and the appointments of Stephen Williams and “a perpetual string of deputies” have been renewed every six months since 2013.
Williams will continue to act until July 31, while Assistant Commissioner of Police Deodat Dulalchan will act as Deputy Commissioner of Police until July 17. It was Williams’ seventh acting appointment.
On Thursday, Deosaran, presented a paper at the annual Conference of Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP) at the Torarica Hotel, Paramaribo, Suriname.
It was titled—Police Governance: From Oversight Puzzle to Political Disguise.
The paper’s objective was to help encourage the ACCP to consider the best way in which political control over Police Commissioners should be exercised in the relatively small, multi-party democracies of the Caribbean.
He said, “While it may be uncomfortable for an individual commissioner to express his or her professional views on the matter, it will be helpful if as a professional association, the ACCP should give it some collective attention from the viewpoints of principle, experience and practice.
“The expanding nature of the illegal drugs, human trafficking, terrorism, border insecurity and state corruption will be more effectively handled by commissioners who are secure from undue political influence.” In Jamaica, Deosaran said, the country’s constitution provides for a Police Service Commission with five members to be appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition. Likewise, Barbados, the Police Service Commission—its chairman and a maximum of four other members—are appointed by the Governor General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.
Zoning in on T&T, he said the 1962 Constitution stated that the members of the PSC shall be appointed by the Governor General acting in accordance with the advice of the Prime Minister with the power to appoint, promote and discipline police officers.
The Constitution added that before the PSC appoints a Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner, it must get the approval of the Prime Minister—a veto power.
The recent amendments this year by the People’s National Movement administration requires that the appointments of a Commissioner and Deputy be nationals of T&T.
The process for recruitment requests that the PSC, through the Tenders Board Act, hires a private firm to advertise and recruit. This firm then sends a short list to the PSC who then sends the top CoP and Deputy CoP candidates to Parliament through the President. Parliament debates, then approves or disapproves.
But Deosaran said overall, this appointment process raised some issues:
• The PSC powers are significantly weakened;
• The PSC has become an expensive redundancy and an irrelevant rubber stamp;
• The process, though intended to be a constitutionally-driven one, has been reduced to significant privatisation, with the public officer DPA removed and the PSC vetting powers numbed;
• With the political directorate having significant determination from start to finish in the appointment process, it means political control over the CoP and Deputy CoP has been strengthened:
• Faced with such circumstances, it may be less costly, more efficient and constitutionally proper to remove the private firm and allow the PSC itself to conduct the recruitment process:
• Alternatively, let the Parliament itself arrange to hire an appropriate consultant to recruit and recommend to the President without having a PSC.
Deosaran said, “If political control over the commissioner is inevitable in a democracy, then why don’t we now do as the UK and have our commissioners elected by popular vote?”
He also asked, “Should a Commissioner of Police be appointed on a three-or-five-year contract or given permanent tenure like judges?