113 police constables demand retroactive promotion

A hundred and 13 police constables are demanding their retroactive promotion by March 15.

Attorneys for the group sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General on March 1.

The 113 are part of a larger group of some 837 constables who were on an order-of-merit list after interviews were done in September 2023, but were not promoted along with 896 who were, on September 28, 2023.

Now those constables who were not promoted last year are demanding their elevation be effected retroactively, since some of their colleagues who were below them on the merit list are now corporals, while the police service has admitted 29 were erroneously promoted because of a computer glitch.

“Morally, it has been demoralising for officers who have worked hard and deserve recognition for their efforts to be overlooked for such a long time.

“In their everyday lives, this delay has created uncertainty, stress and frustration for the officers, affecting their job satisfaction and overall well-being.

“Promotions in the police service come with new responsibilities and challenges that help police officers develop new skills and grow professionally. This prolonged delay in promotion has stifled the growth of the potential applicants and limited their potential.”

This is the latest action in the recent promotions debacle. There are numerous lawsuits surrounding the September 2023 promotion exercise, as well as calls by the Police Social and Welfare Association for an independent investigation and revocation of the promotion of the 29 who were wrongly made corporals.

Attorneys Kiel Taklalsingh, Keron Ramkhalwhan and Shalini Sankar say the 29 promotions are illegal, yet the police commissioner has failed to revoke them.

They maintain the 113 officers’ rights to equality of treatment have been infringed. They say they intend to seek judicial review and constitutional relief, including an order to compel the commissioner to retroactively promote them.

In February, Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher agreed to stop the promotions when faced with a barrage of lawsuits and legal threats.

There are 1,200 available spots for the rank of corporal. After the September 2023 promotions, aggrieved officers raised their concerns and it was disclosed there had been a “glitch” in producing that merit list. A new comparative merit list was then generated.

In his letter to the commissioner, president of the association acting ASP Gideon Dickson said his members had mandated the association’s executive to get a report from the DCP, Administration, on the admitted “glitch” in generating the merit list and the raw scores from all the officers who went before the Promotion Advisory Board.

Dickson said the association’s members also want to know if the“glitch” was investigated, who did the investigation and what caused the “glitch.”

They also want to know what the police service will do with the 897-1,735 officers on the merit list and if they will be promoted, how soon and if their promotions will be retroactive.

The association also recommended that the scores should be released, the 29 officer' promotions rescinded, an independent investigation undertaken, and additional vacancies created.