Parliament to debate Jacob's acting replacement during UK trip

PARLIAMENT will debate the acting appointment of ACP Erla Christopher to head the police service while acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob goes to the UK for a week on official duties.

Parliament has to approve an acting position at the executive level of the police service after a High Court ruling last October mandated that the acting positions of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Commissioner of Police must have Parliament's approval.

That decision came after Justice Nadia Kangaloo deemed two legal notices illegal.

The cumbersome task of obtaining parliamentary approvals for both DCPs and CoPs came after the previous Police Service Commission (PSC) collapsed amidst repeated public claims of political interference in quashing an approved merit list that recommended Gary Griffith should be reappointed CoP.

After his term ended in September last year, Griffith was appointed to act as CoP by the PSC without Parliament's green light. While he was on vacation, Griffith was suspended and Jacob appointed to act in his stead.

This triggered legal actions, the most significant being an interpretation claim by social activist Ravi Balgobin Maharaj for the court to declare that Griffith’s appointment to act as commissioner was illegal and unconstitutional. Balgobin argued that the acting appointment did not follow the procedure set out by the Constitution. Kangaloo agreed and went a step further, to highlight that acting appointments as a DCP or CoP need Parliament’s approval.

Christopher, who is acting as a DCP and was doing so at the time of the court ruling, which was not retroactive, is the highest- ranked officer in the police service after Jacob, who remains the only confirmed DCP.

In July the PSC put forward former head of the Professional Standards Bureau Ramnarine Samaroo for appointment as a DCP. His nomination has not been debated in Parliament.

With Jacob’s one-week absence, in the event of Christopher's approval as acting CoP, the police service will only have one acting DCP.

Christopher and ACP Wendell Williams are currently acting as DCPs. The police service hierarchy approves three DCPs. ACP Joanne Archie acted as DCP until her retirement earlier this year, and the position remains vacant.

On June 30, the PSC closed off applications for the posts of CoP and DCPs. Its chairman, retired judge Judith Jones, said she hopes a substantive officer-holder will be appointed by the end of the year, along with the remaining two deputies, after the entire process had to be restarted.