Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams and his three deputies have all received favourable grades in their Police Service Commission (PSC) performance appraisals.The PSC made the announcement in a press release yesterday.
In the two-page release, the PSC said it had completed the appraisals for Williams and Deputy Police Commissioners Mervyn Richardson (Crime and Support Services), Simon Alexis (Administration) and Raymond Craig (Operations) and the men had received favourable ratings for their performances for last year.
The release said: "Having reviewed the data analysis and technical reports from the PSC secretariat, the commission has given favourable ratings to all four officers for the period 2012."The PSC said the senior officers were appraised in six categories, namely: Law enforcement, public trust and confidence, human resource management, strategic initiatives, financial administration and interviews.
"It is helpful to note that crime statistics, including those for homicide, as important as these are, are not the only criteria on which appraisals are based," the release added.Williams, Simon and Craig were appointed to their posts last August 7, after former Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs and his deputy, Jack Ewatski, both Canadians, resigned.
The commission is chaired by Professor Ramesh Deosaran, with Addison Masefield Khan, Martin George, Jacqueline Cheeseman and Kenneth Parker as its members.The release said during the interview process, the officers were given an opportunity to explain the constraints of the job and give a timeframe for improvements.Two of the constrains cited were investigation equipment and physical infrastructure for the T&T Police Service, the release noted.
The PSC commissioners also provided the officers with recommendations for improving police performance and public safety in the country, the release said."Such a performance-based partnership was driven by the fact that there were some incremental improvements, for example, in public education, reduction in traffic accidents and strategic initiatives," the release added.
The commission said it expected police performance, especially in detection rates and police integrity, to significantly improve once the constraints were reduced."It is of course important to warn and hold these officers accountable but at the same time it is also useful to offer some encouragement to help improve their performances so as to make the Police Service an institution of which an independent country can be proud," the commission added.