Former Police Service Commission chairman Ramesh Deosaran is advising the incoming Commissioner of Police (CoP) that under him there will be “no magic formula” to “set the T&T Police Service” straight.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian following the handing over of the T&T Police Service Manpower Audit Committee Report to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Tuesday, Deosaran said whoever will be appointed the new CoP will have to work against the severe challenges now plaguing the institution.
“The work will now start under him…the appointment of a Commissioner of Police will not solve the challenges that the police service face…there is no magic formula in that,” Deosaran said.
Deosaran said he knew that interviews had started in the search for the CoP and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) but was not sure if the PSC had reached that point of selection.
He also could not comment on the quality of applications coming in to the PSC, but said he hoped that “the best is selected.”
Taxpayers are expected to pay an estimated $3.2 million to local consulting firm KPMG in the search for a new CoP and new DCP.
Advertisements for the positions were placed in local newspapers from September 4-29.
No one has held the substantive post since the departure of former head, Canadian Dwayne Gibbs, in 2012, when Stephen Williams was appointed as Acting CoP, a position for which he has received 11 six-month extensions since that time.
Williams is said to be one of the applicants for the substantive post. Police Social and Welfare Association executive members Michael Seales and Anand Ramesar, as well as former national security minister Gary Griffith are said to have applied as well.