Helping choose CoP the duty of all adults

THE EDITOR: In an era of galloping human rights law, the absence of checks and balances against animus, covert misogyny and gender inequality and bias create significant weaknesses in our present system of governance, leaving it to high-ranking individual office holders to uphold or guide in part or in whole the nation’s aspirations.

When checks and balances and office holders fail us, we have no one to blame but ourselves for having demanded less than what is required of the task, and for giving less than adequate support in times of need. The failures of a long line of police commissioners since independence are nothing less than citizenship failures.

Consequently, as citizens, we have a stake in the selection process of a police commissioner. The input and attention of every adult citizen, in particular females, are required because we have that moral obligation to help influence the right choice of candidate and to assist the fourth estate (news media) to act vigilantly in order to minimise the occurrence of personal vulnerabilities and culpabilities, for the welfare of all.

To this end, hopefully, terribly old-fashioned prejudices, including gender bias, are entirely absent in the personalities of shortlisted candidates, ensuring each candidate’s active and studious commitment to, and respect for, a level playing field, people skills and insight, and championing society’s most vulnerable for the fiercest of protection.

Hopefully, the recently minted Ramesh Deosaran police report of recommendations and reformation pathways is encapsulated in a philosophical underpinning of gender sensitivity and white collar civil and criminal vulnerabilities where, within the justice system, the most ill-treated and worst-off victims are women and children.

Finally, in the context of taking our police force forward, I read where one candidate for police commissioner had inferred a real passion for doing the job of policing “fearlessly.” In the 21st century, there ought to be a more persuasive and intellectually-weighted approach by a police commissioner to modern policing techniques other than an aspirational feeling and a signalling of intent towards fearlessness.

Fearlessness, to be understood well, is merely a natural outcome of specific, personal and actionable leadership attributes, such as patriotism, the pursuit of truth, justice, the rule of law and accountability.

Decision makers may best serve by concentrating on the latter attributes.

KATHLEEN PINDER via e-mail