Police Service Commission can appoint Griffith to act as CoP

WITH the contract of Police Commissioner Gary Griffith coming to an end in two months, the question of who will be TT's next top cop remains unclear.

The current office-holder is still weighing his options, citing health issues, numerous death threats and the toll on his family life.

On June 17, two months before Griffith's contract comes to an end, the Government announced by way of a statutory instrument that the long, convoluted process of selecting a police commissioner and three deputies will be made shorter by removing the mandate to advertise the post internationally.

The proposed changes have not yet been approved by the House of Representatives and the Police Service Commission cannot act until they are approved.

Sunday Newsday understands that by Wednesday the legal notice will be approved, paving the way for the commission to begin its work in finding candidates for the top posts of the police service.

The change will help the commission to shortlist suitable candidates in a much quicker time.

The new constitutional provision also allows the commission to submit to the President a list of suitable candidates from among the ranks, including anyone on contract or who had been previously employed on contract, to be nominated to act as CoP and or DCP, pending the appointment of a substantive office-holder.

Griffith has irked the Prime Minister during his tenure when he publicly criticised the head of the government over apparent instructions to arrest people who were allegedly breaching pandemic regulations by gathering at a Bayside Towers pool party and was called in to a private meeting with the PM after his public statements.

The Prime Minister cannot veto the acting appointment of the commission.

Griffith also has about three months' vacation leave piled up and the government may have to buy it out if he is to remain on duty up until the end of his contract. It is unlikely he will go on leave during the state of emergency.

Former chairman of the commission Nizam Mohammed said the amendment to the selection process is a step in the right direction.

In a phone interview with Sunday Newsday, Mohammed added: “I wish they could go further and ensure that the members of the commission are removed from the clutches of the politicians, like all service commissions. It is the only service commission that is beholden to the politician, and that came about as part of the restructuring that took place.”

Commission members are selected by the President, who then submits the names to Parliament. Once there is consensus, the approved members form the commission and the President selects one as chairman. Bliss Seepersad was recently given a second term as chairman.

Mohammed added: “The entire process and even part of the restructuring of the PSC had created a very cumbersome and convoluted process.

"The government has eliminated advertisements internationally. That will be one step towards minimising the painstaking exercise that had to be undertaken previously.”

Mohammed was chairman of the commission from July 2010-April 2011. His appointment was for three years, but he was removed after a year after making insensitive comments about the racial composition of the hierarchy of the police service.

Another former chairman, Prof Ramesh Deosaran, described the new process as taking one step forward and two steps back.

“This method of final selection unwittingly puts the PSC in a shadow-boxing position.

"The major objective of the 2006 amendments to the Constitution were intended to depoliticise the appointment process, in which then the Prime Minister had a veto. Today, the PM in effect still has the veto. It looks like one foot forward, two feet backwards. A bit douenish.”

In January, Sunday Newsday asked the commission what the process will be for Griffith's renewal or replacement and was told they would be in touch as soon as there was feedback. On the posts for the deputies, the commission said then that it was ongoing.

Griffith, who, according to the new process, will have to reapply for the top cop position after his contract ends on August 17, did not answer when asked directly if he would do so. He told the media last week that it is a family decision, since the post had taken a significant toll on him and his family.

The last occasion the commission used Odyssey Consult Inc to shortlist candidates for the posts of deputy commissioner (DCP). The top three were were Mc Donald Jacob; Insp Mark Hernandez, the former head of the Special Operations Response Team; and head of the Police Academy Snr Supt Andre Norton. The three were shortlisted out of more than a dozen candidates after a process that took several months.

The three names selected by the commission were put on a merit list that was submitted to the President in March. On March 12, the President submitted the names to Parliament for it to approve or reject.

In April, Jacob was appointed a DCP after Parliament debated his selection.

Hernandez was disqualified after he was charged with a criminal offence and suspended from duty. The charge against him is that he misbehaved himself by encouraging the unlawful assault of David Ottley Jr during the investigation into the kidnapping and subsequent murder of court clerk Andrea Bharatt.

Leader of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis said last Wednesday she was not sure what the new process will mean for Norton and whether he will need to reapply. She said that was a matter for the commission to address.

The commission has not responded to questions from Sunday Newsday on this. Norton’s nomination, however, is valid for a year.

This is the second time Norton has been nominated for the post. The first time was in 2017. That process saw Griffith, a former national security minister in the UNC administration, emerging as commissioner after Parliament rejected three other candidates.

Whether this process will mean that by the time Griffith's contract ends, the police will have a confirmed leader or an acting CoP is still unknown. The previous process made it mandatory that the commission must advertise the top four posts in the police service internationally, which extended the time it took to appoint a CoP and deputies. This new law does not preclude foreigners from applying if they see the positions advertised.