So, those 123 officers ranked from Inspector to Commissioner from the senior command of a department with 2,300 police men and women.
When promotions were approved earlier this month - a fair number of those in the rank and file weren't happy. They felt passed over, disrespected, and dealt an unjust hand.
We asked the commissioner about it:..
Reporter
"For many the optimism and hope that greeted your arrival as the ComPol 6 months ago and worn off for many and there is a lot of discontent in the ranks, from the low ranks up to the high. We know that any promotion there are a lot of hearts broken and a lot of men are vex. Explain to me how are you managing this discontent?"
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Well I don't really think there is a discontent over my administration. I believe that I have been very fair to rank and file and I have always expressed to them that we are a member of a department and we can't have all chiefs and no Indians and so while yes there are a number of persons who are promoted recently, I do agree and accept that there were many others who were well deserving of promotions as well, but we can only promote based on the availability of vacancies and because of that some who were well-deserved were not promoted."
Reporter
"The allegation is there seems to be a level of unfairness and favouritism during the interview. Certain persons are selected to come back to the interview and promoted while others don't, because they feel that they are not favourite by the commander."
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"I would want to think that if God would come down and do the promotion he would be criticized. It is human nature and I will accept the criticism but refute its contents because that is not the way how it works. The process for promotion is an objective one. There are a number of persons who are close to me and they were not promoted and they are deserving as well. I believe in being fair and I can tell you that there are a number of persons who have opposed me in the past and I promoted them because they are entitled to their promotion. I don't promote people because they like me or because they are friends with me. I promote you base one your merit. Historically, persons who have not pass the promotional exam have been promoted. The promotion is not only based on passing an exam, there are other criteria and when you score the different criteria, then if you reach that mark then you can be promoted. So likewise there can be persons who pass the exam and are not promoted because they fail in other areas, so we have to be real and we have to be objective."
Email
Print