Griffith begins disciplinary action against Hackshaw

POLICE COMMISSIONER Gary Griffith on Wednesday served a warning notice to ACP Irwin Hackshaw after numerous calls for him to initiate disciplinary proceedings against his highest-ranked officer.

In a media release on Wednesday, Griffith said this is the first step in the disciplinary process as outlined in the Police Service Regulations, given the allegations made against Hackshaw.

In March, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) launched two separate investigations into Hackshaw, who was then acting as a DCP and was even appointed to act as the CoP in Griffith's absence.

One investigation focused on Hackshaw's working as a security consultant since 2014 for a number of businesses without the approval of acting police commissioners Stephen Williams and Harold Phillips.

In a media release last week the PCA found there was no criminal liability on Hackshaw’s part in relation to the first matter but highlighted that he had breached the police regulations, and called on Griffith to act on that.

Griffith responded by saying, given that Hackshaw is the second most senior police officer in the service to himself, and without any substantive Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), he was unable to do so.

This latest move by Griffith comes the day after he hosted a media briefing to say that there was nothing he could do about Hackshaw.

With no substantive DCPs, he said again, he is unable to legally discipline Hackshaw.

In his media release on Wednesday, Griffith said he is doing all and will continue to do all in his power to have the matter dealt with.

But he said the police "anticipate that the complicated issues involving this matter will arise when an attempt is made to appoint a tribunal. The issue at hand here is in many ways beyond my control as this precise scenario was never anticipated in the regulations.

"I will however, move the process along as far as I can with the expectation that a resolution will be found.”

He hoped that by the time the matter reaches the point of selecting a tribunal the Police Service Commission (PSC) would have selected DCPs.

He also explained, “Notwithstanding the fact that this is an internal disciplinary matter, the TTPS has chosen to communicate this update to the public in the interest of transparency even though it is not the practice to ventilate internal disciplinary matters in public.”He had previously complained that the PCA had made its recommendation public in a media release.

Since Griffith took up office in August 2018,the police have not had substantive DCPs.

The PSC selects both the commissioner and the three DCPs and submits the nominees for Parliament to decide who gets the nod. The DCP positions ae still empty as nominees were rejected by Parliament.