Griffith threatens PSC with legal action

UPDATE:

FORMER National Security minister Gary Griffith has instructed his attorneys to serve a pre-action protocol letter on the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Griffith said this was after the PSC reportedly “breached several legal notices.” He accused the commission of using a biased merit system and asserted that it had no right to do its own assessments in grading the merit list of candidates, as it was not in the legal notice.

Griffith also lashed out at former PSC chairman Dr Maria-Therese Gomes, accusing her of using a flawed system to select candidates for the post of commissioner, and claimed his overall score on the merit list was dropped by 23 per cent.

“So for Dr Gomes to draft criteria to provide points for candidates based on policing experience and not law enforcement experience, shows that she and the PSC’s final interview had blatantly showed a high degree of bias and operated in total contrast to the stipulation for candidates eligible to apply for the post as in law, by now showing blatant disregard for the law and showing bias against anyone outside of the Police Service who applied for the post.”

The letter was served by Griffith’s attorney Christian Chandler, who is demanding on behalf of his client that earlier recommendations made by the commission should be rescinded and Griffith’s legal fees of $3,000 paid. In the letter, Chandler said the selection process was fair and transparent up until the point when human resource and consultancy firm KPMG completed the final stages.

He also described the final interview as both “curious and unnecessary,” citing the commission’s oversight throughout the process.

ORIGINAL STORY

Former minister of national security Gary Griffith has instructed his attorneys to serve a pre-action protocol letter to the Police Service Commission for what he described as a flawed selection process for a police commissioner, a release revealed this afternoon.

According to Griffith, the decision came about after the Police Service Commission (PSC) reportedly "breached several legal notices."

Griffith accused the commission of using a biased merit system and asserted that they had no right to conduct their own assessments into grading the merit list of candidates as it was not in the legal notice.

The letter was served by Griffith's attorney Christian Chandler, who is demanding on behalf of his client to rescind earlier recommendations made by the acting commissioner and pay his legal fees of $3,000.