In two centuries of policing in T&T, there have been many crises but never of the magnitude of the one that has been unfolding over the past several weeks.
Weeks after the implosion of the Bliss Seepersad-led Police Service Commission (PSC), a High Court ruling yesterday dealt another severe blow to the management of the T&T Police Service (TTPS), creating an unprecedented leadership void in the organisation.
And more problems are looming. In about two weeks, a legal challenge by Anand Ramesar, an applicant for the position of Commissioner of Police (CoP) who was rejected early in the process, will come up for hearing, precipitating another twist in this disturbing saga.
Not for the first time, the controversy revolves around the issue of an acting CoP. However, this latest crisis eclipses the previous one, when Stephen Williams acted in the top post for close to a decade before Gary Griffith was installed as a full-time CoP.
Now, based on a ruling by Justice Nadia Kangaloo in a lawsuit filed by Opposition activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj, neither Mr Griffith nor McDonald Jacob—the man who has been holding on in the position for the past few weeks—can act as CoP. Even worse, there is no PSC in place to urgently fill the vacancy.
T&T is without a CoP at the worst possible time, with a State of Emergency still in place and violent crime unacceptably high with an increase in murders in recent months.
But it is a crisis that has been long in the making, developing over many years of costly, time-consuming recruitment exercises presided over by various incarnations of the PSC.
It would be too easy to lay blame for this mess solely on the recently collapsed PSC for bungling the process of appointing an acting CoP. Further complicating the process was the tardiness of the Dr Keith Rowley administration, which waited until two months before the expiration of Mr Griffith’s three-year term to scrap what they claimed was a long-winded process for appointing a CoP and Deputy CoPs.
Their plan for simplifying the process has instead created confusion, prompting calls from many quarters for full explanations from Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and President Paula-Mae Weekes.
Now, instead of the swift appointment of a CoP, there is the prospect of a painfully protracted process that will remain stalled until a new PSC is in place and possibly even not before court matters surrounding the issue are fully dealt with.
There must now be closer scrutiny of the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Selection Process) Order 2021 which was published on June 17, as well as the handling of the order of the merit list which was supposed to be submitted to the President under the procedure set out in Section 123 of the Constitution.
Unfortunately, that entire process is now overshadowed by suspicions that the separation of powers was breached.
There is no easy fix for this crisis. In addition to demanding full accountability from high-ranking officials about the aborted process, the challenge will be to introduce a transparent system that must not have even the slightest hint of political interference.
However, the highest priority must be on restoring public confidence in the position of CoP, which has been so regularly buffeted over the years that one former officeholder described himself as a “toothless bulldog.”