‘Recipe for disaster’

If it was within his power to do so, the Attorney General would have long settled the distressing issue of stalled appointments of officers in the Royal Barbados Police Force. However, the matter, which is linked to a lengthy court battle, falls outside of his remit.

 

Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Adriel Brathwaite was at the time responding to the issue which was one 

of several raised by President of the Barbados Police Association (BPA), Constable Mervin Grace, during the Association’s Annual General Meeting, held at Prince Cave Hall, District “A” Complex, Station Hill, St. Michael yesterday.

 

During his address, Constable Grace made mention of what he described as “the untenable state of affairs in which the police force finds itself, where our promotions are held up awaiting a further case in the Supreme Court.

 

“This has caused a vast void within the ranks of the police force and it’s on the verge of collapsing the morale of the members, who have had to endure the situation of supersession and persons acting above their colleagues of a lesser rank. This is in our view a recipe for disaster. We are asking that the situation be remedied with some dispatch, to avoid a total shut down of our systems and procedures,” the BPA Head asserted.

 

Meanwhile, the Attorney General acknowledged that the matter is indeed dragging on for too long and the situation needs to be readily addressed.

 

“We heard from the President the issue of promotions and that’s indeed an issue that if it was within the power of the Acting Commissioner [of Police Tyrone Griffith] and myself, if we could in fact address that and remove that particular issue from our landscape, we would do it immediately, because we have the untenable situation of not being able to promote many of you to senior ranks,” Brathwaite told those gathered.

 

“Although over the last year or so I have noticed that the Police Service Commission has made some effort to have some acting appointments, having so many acting appointments in an institution such as yours, I would agree with Mr. Grace, does us no good and is indeed an untenable situation and one that has to be addressed with some alacrity,” the AG added.

 

“It is really a situation that needs to be addressed and it should have been addressed a long time ago…it has really been outstanding for too long and is causing untold damage to the rank and file and the general membership of the Royal Barbados Police Force,” the AG commented. 

 

(RSM)