Municipal police head wants autonomy to fill almost 500 vacancies

AFTER taking almost four years to welcome a group of 164 new recruits to the Municipal Police Academy, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of the force wants greater autonomy to fill vacancies.

The recruits would spend the next 20 weeks training to take up positions across ten municipal corporations. Welcoming them, ACP Surrendra Sagramsingh described it as long overdue.

"I've written to the (Public Service) Commission asking for the delegated authority to recruit and train and unfortunately I haven't gotten it. The TTPS have it and that's how they could do aggressive training."

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Sagramsingh said the Municipal Police Service (TTMPS) depends on the Public Service Commission to handle its recruitment despite having the capacity to do it in-house.

"We depend strictly on the commissions to do all the modules. They do all the recruitment processes and it takes some time. A matter of fact, the last time when we started this batch (in 2020) we anticipated that they would have taken 18 months. The TTPS does it in quick time. We have the capacity to so do. I had written to the commission asking that they delegate us to do the entire process which (we would have) possibly trained four batches in four years. We took four years this time and we can only ask for greater autonomy to continue to fill the vacancies as they arise through attrition, through retirement, death— regardless of what. As long as the vacancies are there we want to fill the vacancies at all times."

He believes if the TTMPS could conduct its recruitment, all vacancies would have been filled.

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Faris Al-Rawi, who is the TTMPS' line minister, said the extended delay in recruitment was due to the covid19 pandemic.

"We're really not far off the mark but the attrition happened in the four years."

Commenting on the ACP's plea, Al-Rawi said the service commissions' role is outlined in the constitution and are bodies independent of the government.

"The government is not the Public Services Commission or the SASC (Statutory Authorities Services Commission) and therefore the Prime Minister's call for institutional reflection involves that critical issue. Teachers, for instance, feel frustrated: 'Why am I not getting hired?' Because the service commission has not done its job. This is no pouring of complaint on the people that occupy that office but it's why the Prime Minister is focused on reform of service commissions.''

He said the government was exploring reform measures but lamented it would require a majority in the parliament which it does not hold.

Sagramsingh added the TTMPS was not seeking to remove the function of the service commission but rather be allowed to handle hiring.

"We know that the public service has so many bodies and entities to deal with and to treat with in regards to hiring. All we are asking for is if you can delegate that aspect to us, the recruitment and training, then we would deal with the Municipal Police Service where the commission now, would have strict oversight over everything that we do, but they can concentrate on the other entities."

In the meantime, Al-Rawi said if the ministry receives its ask for the fiscal 2024/2025 budget, the TTMPS would be able to recruit an additional 250 officers. He said there are already some 500 people who have taken the requisite examination and are waiting to be recruited.