The largest manpower deficits in the Police Service are in the E999 Rapid Response Unit, Court and Process Branch and Anti-Corruption investigations, according to the Deosaran Manpower Audit of the Police Service.
The Court and Process Branch shot into the spotlight on Monday when alleged fraudster Vicky Boodram escaped while allegedly being escorted from prison by two officers to “night court.”
The audit report by criminologist Dr Ramesh Deosaran was received by Government in October. The report, themed “Now is the Time - No Sacred Cows,” was laid in Parliament on Tuesday. It noted a 68 per cent deficit in the E999 unit, as its sanctioned manpower strength was 177 officers but its actual complement was 57 —a deficit of 120.
The Court and Process Branch had a 60 per cent manpower deficit. Sanctioned strength was 274 officers and actual complement was 109—a deficit of 165.
Anti-Corruption investigations had a 40 per cent deficit. Sanctioned strength was 45, actual was 27 for a deficit of 18.
The report recommended steps to ensure officers attend to all court matters as required.
“There are many instances where officers fail to attend for several reasons. There’s the need for a computerised real time system to track and ensure officers are always available to attend court duties,” the report said.
Also recommended was more joint operations between police, prisons, army, customs and other security agencies. But it called for “adequate, appropriate team-building rather than just arbitrarily putting various officers from various agencies to work together.”
The report also said the police service’s disciplinary system is very inefficient and “is being abused by many officers. Number of allegations against officers has been increasing annually.”
Up to December 2016 there were 3,211 complaints against officers, mainly in Northern and Southern divisions. Up to February, the largest number of officers suspended on complaints were constables (272) out of 307. These included against an assistant commissioner and senior superintendent.
The highest complaints concerned misbehaviour in public office, perverting the course of justice and corruptly obtaining money. The biggest disciplinary offences over 2014-15 included unlawful/unnecessary use of authority, discreditable conduct and neglect of duty.
The report urged improvements in vetting/background checks of all recruits.