MPs to consider deputy police commissioners

On Friday the House of Representatives will debate the merits of the first of three nominees for the post of Deputy Police Commissioner (DCP), acting DCP McDonald Jacob.

The other nominees for the three vacancies are Insp Mark Hernandez and Supt Andre Norton.

Last October the Police Service Commission (PSC) invited applications for the post from officers with ten years' experience and a master's degree in criminology, police management or similar. Twenty applicants responded.

A recruitment firm assessed these and chose the top five, of whom the PSC selected three names to send to the President, c who in turn sent a notification (dated March 11) for Parliament to approve.

A DCP is supposed to show initiative, innovativeness, discretion and independent judgement, to help the Commissioner of Police run the police service.

On Friday under section 123 of the Constitution, MPs will debate a government motion, listed in the name of the Prime Minister, to approve Jacob.

Jacob is acting as DCP (Intelligence and Investigations). Hernandez is head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT.) Norton is in charge of the Police Academy.

Jacob has an LLB and master's degree in criminology and criminal justice, plus 39 years' service, of which 24 were as a detective in San Fernando. He has been a manager of the Crime and Problem Analysis (CAPA) unit and is a certified mediator. He was voted best-performing divisional commander (Northern Division) in 2016 and has been an acting DCP for the past year.

Hernandez has a master's degree in leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation from Anglia Ruskin University and a bachelor's degree in security and risk management from the University of Leicester. He is a former homicide officer and serves as a senior security adviser of the MH Tactical Response Group, which runs its own shooting range at Chaguaramas and sells guns.

Norton holds a master’s degree in applied criminology and police management from the University of Cambridge, plus a master’s degree in information systems management and a bachelor’s degree in computing, both from the University of Greenwich. He is a Microsoft certified systems engineer. He has over 30 years of law-enforcement experience.