Measures need to be put in place to prevent anyone from witch hunting

May 21, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I think it is the height of impropriety for the Commissioner of Police to even think of posting senior officers in what surely was a clandestine act to preempt the incoming Minister of Home Affairs. I had cause to write a previous letter which your newspaper did not see fit to publish on the attitude of this particular office holder with regard to his senior officers. But perhaps this attempt might be more acceptable to whatever your editorial policy happens to be.
The implications of several aspects of the Commissioner’s move need to be examined in the context of his professional worldview. First I would like to reflect on the significance of replacing Assistant Commissioner Leslie James with his deputy at a time when James is making some inroads into the unsolved murder cases. Remember that Seelall Persaud was within the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for most of his career in the force, but ironically despite being the officer with the most overseas courses under his belt he has not one significant breakthrough that he could identify as his contribution to good detective work.
Just pass by CID Headquarters to have an idea of what Persaud presided over. It would be interesting to know if he ever presented a proposal for disposing of those vehicles which have been an eyesore in that compound for over twenty-five years. If anything, experienced team players like Assistant Commissioners Marlon Chapman and Winston Cosbert have done more in terms of positive outcomes in the field of criminal investigations. You may well ask why those men are not contributing in this line, particularly with the government’s apparent concern about getting on top of crime.
The simple answer is control. The available evidence supported by anecdotes suggests that a burning Commissioner would like to retain the type of day to day control that he formerly had over CID. This would not be possible with an assertive Cosbert or Chapman. Leslie James is more self-effacing, and not given to being confrontational even in the face of extreme provocation that has been his lot since assuming the head of law enforcement under the current commissioner. However, James was never favoured for the position as head, and therefore the Commissioner seized what he saw as his moment to move, thus the arbitrary decision to post him to an office referred to as a special projects office – a throwback to a practice established by the late Laurie Lewis whereby out-of-favour senior officers were banished to twiddle their thumbs. This was a spiteful act culminating months of abuse, undermining and sidelining.
The rumour mill had not even gone into full gear before the media was saying how qualified James’ replacement, Senior Superintendent Wendell Blanhum is. What we all need to understand is we do not have to accept in perpetuity the practice of propelling people into high office because they are highly favoured. In fact, if Blanhum is so bright then the place for him is within the administrative stream to better assist the commissioner with the onerous duty of running the GPF. I chose to highlight this specific attempt but this does not preclude a review of all intended postings which the executive has quite rightly and wisely advised against at this time.
The new Minister of Home Affairs will have to be brought quickly up to speed on the performance of the police and to outline clearly his expectations if he is to effectively carry out his mandate. We all recognize that the government will not be witch hunting and therefore measures need to be put in place to prevent anyone from doing so.
Name withheld

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Measures need to be put in place to prevent anyone from witch hunting

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