At a meeting of the PNM constituencies of Arima and D’Abadie/O’Meara on Tuesday last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called out the divisional heads of the Police Service as unnecessarily “unknown.”
It’s unclear exactly what the Prime Minister hoped to achieve by dragging the nine divisional officers of the service into a political discussion on a matter as heated as the sharp rise in crime, but telling a crowd of PNM supporters that it was not to “berate the Police Service,” seemed notably unconvincing.
Were the members of that audience also aware of the membership of the National Security Council (NSC), the body which bears ultimate responsibility for the creation of effective and sustainable responses to criminal activity in this country?
It might be useful to note that the chairman of that critical oversight body is normally the Prime Minister, with all the terminus responsibilities that accompany the role. The buck, in matters of crime, comes to rest on the desk of Dr Rowley, as it has for his predecessors in the role of PM.
Yes, there should be transparency and accountability within the Police Service, but such demands must be led by example within the political directorate and there remains much to be made clear about the Government’s plans to empower the protective services.
If Dr Rowley is concerned about police officers who are “not pulling their weight” and the need for “management to improve” within the Police Service, then he should feel moved to introduce programmes designed to do exactly that.
The Police Complaints Authority remains a malnourished watchdog agency in its assignment to hold officers to account for their performance in the public eye. Where is the plan to support it in its work?
The management of the Police Service has long been discussed as needing overhaul and modernisation, but such initiatives are less likely to be driven from within its moribund ranks and change needs to be agreed on at the level of the NSC and supported by the police executive that the Prime Minister fretted over last week.
It certainly doesn’t help that critical roles in national security are subject to abrupt change after elections. In November 2015, Strategic Services Agency (SSA) director Bisnath Maharaj was summarily dismissed from his role.
But his replacement, Colonel George Robinson, had his own experience with the practice, having left the post of head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management in August 2010, after his appointment in 2008. Mr Bisnath and other former employees of the SSA have since filed suit, claiming political victimisation and discrimination, prompting Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon to observe that formally clarify that “there is no move to get rid of East Indians” in the agency.
But race has always taken a backseat to demonstrable political loyalty in decisions about leadership in governance.
Until skill, talent and commitment are held to be essential in facing the challenges of reforming a failing national security apparatus, there will continue to be a lack of continuity in planning and execution of critical anti-crime projects.
The challenge of rising crime and the notable lack of a commensurate response from the protective services is a source of concern and worry for all, but the principal role of the chairman of the NSC must be to ensure that our best and brightest are engaged in crafting and executing strategy with the best tools available.