Is it not amazing that after more than 50 years of independence, this country has found itself not being able to appoint a substantive Commissioner of Police after the position has been vacant for more than 15 months? And this, while T&T has been engulfed in an unprecedentedly high murder rate and a wave of other serious criminal activity, the end of which is nowhere in sight.
Everyone is clear that the source of this undesirable state of affairs lies in the legislators in the Parliament who, engaging in what this writer would term an act of "political balancing" and petty squabbling has put in place machinery which is so cumbersome to operate that, from the very beginning, it was destined to be subjected to unusual and undesirable delays in carrying out the important task of appointing and reviewing the performance of the Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police.
In any event, the machinery does not guarantee that the people selected for appointment are the best qualified.
It is not that the existence of a substantive holder of the post of Commissioner of Police will alone, by itself, on any account, be expected to bring about a reduction in criminal activity in this country, more especially, given its multi-dimensional origins. It is indubitable however, that leadership of any organisation, especially an organisation as intricate as the T&T Police Service, needs to be vested with the stamp of undisputed official authority.
It is here that the Parliament–which in the finality, the present machinery gives the power to approve the selectee–has failed the nation.It is not that parliamentarians are not aware of what needs to be done. They are fully aware that they can, as with the infamous "Section 34", repeal the offending legislation in less than two days! Why can they not, for once, unclothe themselves of political polemics and put in place alternate arrangements befitting of a civilised and independent country?
Failing this, the electorate will know what it ought to do at the appointed time. In the meantime, citizens look on askance at seeing the Public Service Commission, declaring its impotence to appoint, but nevertheless regularly summoning the Acting Commissioner of Police to its presence whenever there is an unusual heightening in criminal activity.
Errol OC Cupid,
Trincity, Tacarigua