Legal notice holds up recruitment of CoP

The recruitment process for a new police commissioner and deputy commissioner has been stalled, a spokesman for the Police Service Commission said yesterday. And this delay could easily pave the way for acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, 51, to have his current six-month term extended, if the relevant legislation is not amended by the time Williams’ term is up on January 31.

Williams took up his post on August 7, when Canadians Dwayne Gibbs and Jack Ewatski resigned as commissioner and deputy commissioner, respectively. The spokesman said the commission wanted the legislation changed so that only locals could apply. This would include locals who live abroad.

The spokesman said the commission had already told the Director of Personnel Administration (DPA) to revoke the provisions of Legal Notice No 102 of 2009, which prescribes the terms and conditions of the selection process, so that fresh terms can be put in place. The instructions were given to the DPA in August this year.

The commission is also strongly recommending that locals should evaluate the applicants, instead of hiring foreign organisations like Penn State University of the US, which resulted in the recruitment of Gibbs and Ewatski. Government had to shell out nearly $5 million to Penn State for the exercise. The final selection process has to be approved by Cabinet, the spokesman added.

“The current process is way too convoluted and it is way too expensive. But at the same time we don’t want a lengthy delay, because we want appointments to take place in the shortest possible time. “The changing of the legal notice is a simple procedure as it requires rewording the criteria of the selection process, and we don’t expect that to take any length of time,” the spokesman said.

When contacted yesterday, Williams said if the opportunity presented itself he would apply for the post of CoP. But, he added, so far it has not happened.