I write with respect to the service commissions, but in particular the Police Service Commission (PSC). I have said this before, but it's well worth repeating. That body is the biggest single contributor to the disaster that is the Police Service today and to the horror that this country is now, and has been experiencing with respect to crime.
Let me state from the outset that I have great respect for Ramesh Deosaran and Martin George. But, I am appalled that these gentlemen and others continue to participate in this charade. For example, they came before the nation on the television and through the media with the excuse that they are hamstrung by bureaucracy and won't be appointing a commissioner "any time soon."
Let us not forget, in a blatant display of insularity, who it was that ran Gibbs and Ewatski out of town. The simple fact is that if the PSC follows the law with respect to the hiring of a police commissioner they probably will end up with a white foreigner. That is what they want to change. I plead with the politicians not to take them on. Let them do what they have to do within the confines of the present law. Did the PSC ever consider that that might the only way to go if they wish to save this country?
And what about the pussyfooting around the performance of the acting Commissioner of Police? Big fanfare, rapping him publicly on the knuckles for the submissions of "late reports." With a crime situation barrelling out of control, a detection rate about the lowest in the world, an indescribable murder rate, a population cringing in fear, and the best you can do is talk about "late reports?"
Any other country would have booted him out of office and replaced him. It is now 15 months since they got rid of Gibbs and Ewatski, and that is the best you can do? The country is bawling for leadership and we get lame excuses!
Moving on, Prime Minister, let us face it, whatever you are doing now is not working. Your Minister of National Security has been making public statements as to what he is going to do. My advice: tell him to stop talking and like Nike, just do it. Fire the rogue cops, get rid of the non-performers, starting from the top. Forget the lawyers and armchair critics. Face the consequences. The public will support you and love you for it.
Most of all, a friend of mine once told me that politics is the art of the possible. Start thinking the impossible and begin by disbanding the Police Service Commission.
F Mouttet,
via e-mail